The Equifax data breach announced on September 7 has the potential to greatly increase the amount of tax identity theft.
While not widespread, we definitely see cases of income tax identity theft each year. The way the scam typically works is criminals steal someone's social security number via a data breach, carelessness with personal information or a phone scam. They then submit false information on income tax returns to generate a large income tax refund.
Eventually, enough people report the issue, hopefully the government tracks them down and the criminals get arrested. The government is also implementing preventive measures such as trying to do timely and better data matching with information reported on income tax returns.
As long as it's an easy fraud with a long-time to track down, criminals will continue to pursue this scam.
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The 2024 WilmingtonBiz: Book on Business is an annual publication showcasing the Wilmington region as a center of business.