Identity Theft

[Annie]

With the week's news on pc attacks thought this might be useful to save:

http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/

 

[waltky]

Illegals account for 1.3M tax identity thefts...

IRS Documented 1.3M Identity Thefts by Illegal Aliens; Can’t Say It Referred Any for Prosecution
March 16, 2018 | The Internal Revenue Service in 2011 through 2016 documented more than 1.3 million cases of identity theft perpetrated by illegal aliens whom the IRS had given Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN), which are only given to people who are ineligible to work in the United States or receive Social Security Numbers, according to information published by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA).

However, in response to inquiries from CNSNews.com, the IRS could not say if it had referred even one of these cases for criminal prosecution. TIGTA, which is the inspector general responsible for overseeing the IRS, discovered another approximately 1.2 million cases in 2017 in which an illegal alien working in the United States had filed a tax return reporting wages that had been earned using a Social Security Number that belonged to someone else or was fabricated. Yet the IRS also could not say whether it referred any of these cases for criminal prosecution.

'Shall Be Guilty of a Felony'

Using a stolen or fake Social Security Number is a felony. “The Social Security Act,” TIGTA has noted, “provides that whoever, with the intent to deceive, falsely represents a number to be his or her SSN when, in fact, that number was not assigned to that person, shall be guilty of a felony and subject to a fine, imprisonment, or both. This includes using a false SSN to obtain employment.” When processing individual tax returns, according to reports filed by TIGTA, the IRS ordinarily encounters two types of identity theft. One involves what TIGTA calls “refund fraud” and the other involves “employment-related fraud.”

In an August 10, 2016 report ("Processes Are Not Sufficient to Assist Victims of Employment-Related Identity Theft"), TIGTA published this graphic explaining the difference between "refund fraud" and "employment-related fraud:"

In cases of refund fraud, the “identity thief” uses another person’s Social Security Number and personal identification information “to file a fraudulent tax return, reporting fictitious wages and withholdings and obtains a tax refund.” “Cases of employment identity theft identified by the Internal Revenue Service usually involve an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) filer who used the Social Security Number of another individual, i.e. victim, to gain employment,” TIGTA said in a report released in February. “Employment identity theft can cause a significant burden to innocent taxpayers, including the incorrect computation of taxes based on income that does not belong to them,” said the report.

MORE

 

[waltky]

Illegals skirting prosecution on identity theft...

Illegal Aliens ‘Immune From Prosecution for Identity Theft,’ CNSNews.com Story Shows
March 20, 2018 | “Well, people here illegally, apparently, aren’t just immune from being deported – they’re also immune from prosecution for identity theft and the crime of using false documents,” Fox News host Tucker Carlson said Monday night.

Carlson was reacting to a CNSNews.com article revealing that 1.3 million American taxpayers have been victimized by illegal aliens, but the federal government appears unwilling to do anything about it: “According to a Treasury Department report, from 2011 to 2016, the IRS detected 1.3 million cases of identity theft perpetrated by illegal aliens, but they couldn’t cite a single case that was referred for prosecution. Not one.”

Carlson interviewed the story’s author, CNSNews.com Editor-in-Chief Terry Jeffrey, who explained that – even though Social Security Number fraud is a felony – the IRS has a long-standing policy of looking the other way, because “they want the tax money: “And, the IRS knows all about it. There’s no doubt. It is a felony to falsely use someone else’s Social Security Number or to make up a Social Security Number. “And, what we have here, Tucker, is a long-term policy, I believe, by the IRS simply to ignore it, because they want the tax money paid by people.”

As far back as 1999, the Treasury Inspector General noted that issuing Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs) to illegal aliens was a “policy to legalize illegal aliens,” Jeffrey told Carlson.

Illegal aliens perpetrated every one of those 1.3 million identity thefts that victimized American taxpayers, Jeffrey said – because only illegal aliens can have ITINs: “According to the Inspector General, 2011 and 2016, 1.3 million taxpayers who were legitimately paying their taxes, who had Social Security Numbers that belonged to them, the IRS actually marked their accounts because they were victims of identity theft by people the IRS had issued ITINs to. “Now, what we know about someone who has an ITIN who is working in the United States is that they are by definition an illegal alien.”

Tucker: Illegal Aliens ‘Immune From Prosecution for Identity Theft,’ CNSNews.com Story Shows