Based on an increase in suspicious tax filers, the Department of Revenue Services believes there is a relationship to recent breaches.
Tax time appears to be revealing an uptick in identity theft -- and it may be related to some of the massive data breaches seen this year, including the one from health insurer Anthem.
Imagine getting all the paperwork done for your taxes, filing your return, and sitting back to await your refund, only to be told that someone beat you to it.
A growing number of people don’t have to imagine – they really have become victims of identity theft, and the thief has used a stolen Social Security number to divert that refund into their own pocket. If it happens to you, it can take up to a year to get that refund back.
"When someone has filed a fraudulent return, we now have to show that they are in fact the true taxpayers," said Ronald Borusso, a CPA in East Haven.
Borusso says this kind of identity theft is a recent and growing trend. "Last year was really the first time we ran into it on a limited basis, and this year we’ve seen that it’s much more prevalent," he told WNPR.
But what’s causing that uptick in fraud? Officials say it’s too early to tell definitively, but suspicion has to fall on the recent rash of data breaches cases.
Commissioner of the Department of Revenue Services, Kevin Sullivan, said based on an increase in suspicious filers, the DRS believes there is a relationship to the breaches, particularly at Anthem and at Intuit, the makers of TurboTax software.
The Attorney General’s office also says its received reports of tax fraud from Anthem customers, although its too early to make a positive link between the two. The AG’s office is urging Anthem customers past and present to sign up for free credit monitoring. It also says anyone who has already been the victim of identity theft can access credit repair services.
