IRS Scams and Identity Tax Refund Fraud

Posted on October 02, 2014

According to a recent report, the IRS estimated that $5.2 billion in fraudulent tax refunds were paid in the 2013 tax year using stolen identities. The IRS also estimated that it prevented $24.2 billion in fraudulent identity theft refunds.

In another scam perpetrated by people pretending to be IRS agents, the IRS reports that taxpayers were tricked into allowing the scammers to steal more than $5.2 million on debit cards and that those losses may be as high as $8.0 million dollars.

Has your identity been stolen? Has a scammer pretending to be an IRS agent taken money from you? Have you submitted your tax return only to find out a fraudulent one has already been filed?

You are not alone. You may be among the many that has lost money to these thieves in the last year.

CBS 60 Minutes recently did a special on the Biggest IRS scam around: Identity tax refund fraud. Steve Kroft speaks with convicted con artists and discusses why the IRS hasn’t been able to stop it.