Identity Theft/Income Tax Fraud

It's time again to remind ourselves to be vigilant on safeguarding our personal and private information.

I saw it on a "60 Minutes" program awhile ago that identity theft is a common occurrence in the States.

The particular program I watched told stories of criminals applied income tax refunds with other people's social security numbers that they bought on the street.  Now these days, with computers and debit cards, filing a tax return is just a click away.  It is extremely easy for the unscrupulous individuals to use our  identity once they got hold of our social security number.

But I would never think it could happen so close to home.  Someone had used one of our family members' social security number to file tax return.  An unusual phone message prompted the victim to contact IRS office.  It was confirmed that someone had used her social security number to file tax return.  A this time, this fraudulent return is under the IRS's radar.  I do not know if these two incidents are related.  Before this unsavory incident was being discovered, the victim did return a notice from IRS to confirm her residency.  -  Ayee