What’s the Ideal Job for an Identity Thief? IRS Tax Examiner!

From the records of the United
States Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration: the
tale of
a gang of identity thieves working out of the Internal Revenue
Service’s Northern District of Georgia office. They were busted
just before the recent tax season. So your most recent data is
safe. From them. For now.

IRS Employee Orchestrated Identity Theft Refund Scheme
Using Taxpayer Records

On December 10, 2013, in the Northern District of Georgia, IRS
Tax Examining Technician Missy Sledge was indicted for aggravated
identity theft and mail fraud.

According to court documents, as part of her official IRS
duties, Sledge had access to taxpayers’ personal identifiers,
including names, Social Security Numbers (SSN), dates of birth, and
addresses, and information about tax professionals. Sledge used
this access in furtherance of an identity theft scheme which
included the filing of fraudulent tax returns and the subsequent
theft of refunds. With information from IRS computer systems,
Sledge provided taxpayers’ personal information to her
coconspirators.

Hey, if you’re gonna pilfer other people’s personal information
and steal their money, you might as well get government bennies
while you do it.

Sledge received
four years and nine months in prison for her misdeeds, which
victimized 60 taxpayers. The status of her pals in the scheme is
unclear.

But chances are, your tax returns are still, totally,
hacker bait.