Identity Theft 101

Did you know...

  • 4.9% of U.S. adults fell victim to identity theft in 2011.†

Tax Fraud

Enterprising thieves will try anything for profit, even forging tax returns in your name to get your refund.

Tax Fraud

How does tax fraud occur?

Identity thieves want your tax refund. They can steal bits of your personal information or even your prior year’s tax documents, in order to file a fraudulent tax return. The crime may be undetected until you are missing a refund check or the Internal Revenue Service notifies you of a problem.

What are the effects of tax fraud?

Not only can tax fraud thieves steal your refund check, but they can also do serious damage to your good standing with the IRS. If a fraudulent tax return is filed, your official financial information would be wrecked, and you may be facing an audit. It could take years to fix your records with the IRS. Plus, with the stolen information, identity thieves could continue committing identity crimes long after tax season.

The impact:

  • Out of all identity theft complaints in 2011, 24.1% reported to be victims of tax fraud.1
  • Tax fraud incidents increased by 11.4% in the last two years.1

1 Federal Trace Commission. “Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book For January – December 2011.” February 2012.

† Federal Trade Commission. “Consumer Sentinel Network Data Book For January – December 2011.” February 2012.
† Javelin Strategy & Research. "2012 Identity Fraud Report: Social Media and Mobile Forming the New Fraud Frontier." February 2012.