February, March and the first half of April can be hectic for many Americans as they prepare numerous forms and fill out hundreds of lines required by the instructions on their tax forms.
Or, people can take the easy, less affordable way out and have an accountant or tax firm do the work for them.
Either way it can be dangerous, as criminals await any opportunity to nab personal information so they can use it for their own benefit. Such was the case a couple weeks ago, as detectives with the Arkadelphia Police Department learned that a person allegedly filed his taxes while claiming someone else’s child as a dependent to earn tax credits. “We’re starting to see more and more identity theft during tax time,” said Cpl. Jason Watson of APD. “We are currently investigating one case now.”
Watson said the identity theft victim went to a local firm to have her taxes filed when she discovered that someone else had already used her child as a dependent. Other information could be used as well for the benefit of identity theft criminals.
Other identity theft scams, Watson said, include random phone calls in which the person on the other line wants your name and/or date of birth to secure you with lottery winnings or other types of cash advances. Most investigations led police to a phone number or a “very odd” ZIP code from Nigeria or Canada, Watson said.
Others mail computer-generated, counterfeit checks that ask the recipient to cash it, keep some of the total sum and send back a portion as a processing fee. Watson explained that such a scam is a two-fold trap where a victim of fraud can become the suspect. “When you send them the check with your information on it, they have it from then on,” Watson said. “Also, you can be prosecuted even though you’re the victim because you are cashing a fraudulent check. You have to be careful.”
Though it is rare for fraud victims to be prosecuted, Watson recalled one instance in which a man continued to fall victim to the check-cashing scam despite police warning him of the scam.
There are a “thousand different pitches” for scams, Watson said.
Other scam artists will steal someone’s purse or billfold, then later find the victim’s phone number and call him, identifying himself as a police officer. The perpetrator will say he is a police officer and that he has found your debit or credit cards — but, he will add, it is stuck in an ATM machine, and he needs to know your PIN to get it out to return it to you. “Never — never give you’re your PIN number over the phone or the Internet,” Watson said. “Even if the person says he is a policeman.”
If it sounds too good to be true, or if it sounds suspicious, “Report it immediately,” Watson said.
Financial identity fraud can be either a Class C or a Class B felony, depending on the victim. A Class C felony is punishable by 3-10 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $10,000. If convicted of committing a financial identity fraud against an elderly or disabled person, however, those punishments increase, with 5-20 years in prison and/or a fine of up to $15,000.
