TAMPA (FOX 13) -
Anthony Meaker knew as
soon as he heard it something wasn't quite right.
"It caught me off
guard right off because I had a tax problem last year," the Brandon
resident said.
"Here's this
voicemail that comes up. It's talking about 'contact the IRS immediately' and
'here's the phone number," Meaker said.
Turns out it was a
scam. Identity thieves were fishing for Meaker's personal information so they
can file bogus tax returns.
"These are
traditional types of identity theft scams that you should be wary of," said white
collar crime expert and former federal prosecutor, L.T. Lafferty.
But he said that's not
the big problem.
These days thieves
don't want just one identity, they want hundreds.
"These
perpetrators are targeting health care providers, insurance companies, schools,
financial institutions, any type of institution that routinely collects this
type of information," Lafferty said.
He said the crooks pay
someone on the inside, usually employees who are willing to steal social
security numbers, addresses and more – everything needed to file boatloads of
bogus returns.
"It's very easy,"
Lafferty said. "Anything from photocopying the paper records that you have to
taking cell phone photographs of the personal information that's up on the
computer screen."
That's why Lafferty
said to keep your personal information to yourself, and that's exactly what
Meaker did.
"I'm retired military
and, of course, I would like to take my expertise and take care of things," he
said. "But my integrity and honesty won't let me do that. All we can do is
fight back."
So, what can you do?
First, experts say,
don't carry your social security number or any other personal information with
you in your wallet or purse.
Don't give out your
social security number unnecessarily. Just because someone asks for it doesn't
mean they need it, including the bank, your child's school and even the
doctor's office.
File early before
somebody else files for you.
And in case your return
is swiped, you can minimize the harm by cutting the amount of tax withholding
from your paycheck.
These
posts are for informational use only to educate people about their
online income taxes
and the financial world around them. If you found this helpful, share
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