Yet More IRS Employees Busted for Stealing Taxpayers’ Identities

It’s hard to keep up with the
privacy-threatening shenanigans at the Internal Revenue Service,
but let’s give it a try. Just days after revealing that the tax
agency’s failure to follow its own rules
put the private data of 1.4 million people at risk, the
Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration publicized the
sentencing of Tax
Examining Technician Missy Sledge for aggravated identity theft
and mail fraud, and IRS employee
Monica Hernandez for making and subscribing a false income tax
return, wire fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

According to the Inspector General’s Office, “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, as well as 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.”

For her part, “Hernandez regularly handled and processed tax
returns on behalf of the IRS by entering taxpayers’ tax information
into the IRS computer system. During the course of her IRS
employment, Hernandez stole tax information in order to file
fraudulent tax returns and claim large tax refunds.”

Sledge received 57-months imprisonment, followed by five years
of supervised release. Hernandez got 53-months imprisonment,
followed by three years of supervised probation. Both have to pay
restitution to the IRS.

But that was last month. This month, we hear about former IRS
employee Taylor
Knight who “inappropriately accessed information maintained by
the IRS for three taxpayers, in each case for her personal reasons
and not for official Government business. The defendants then used
the identifications of these three taxpayers to fraudulently induce
the IRS into issuing tax refund payments.”

Knight hasn’t ben sentenced yet, but faces up to five years in
prison.

Again, IRS records prove themselves to be a bonanza of personal
information for identity thieves who trawl through the less than
securely maintained data looking for a dishonest payday.

Have I mentioned that people signing for health coverage under
the Affordable Care Act are supposed to
update the government on any major life changes, including
marriage status, employment, finances…? Oh wait,
yes I have.

I wonder if that information will be better protected.