The information provided on this website does not, and is not intended to, act as legal, financial or credit advice; instead, it is for general informational purposes only. Information on this website may not be current. This website may contain links to other third-party websites. Such links are only for the convenience of the reader, user or browser; we do not recommend or endorse the contents of any third-party sites. Readers of this website should contact their attorney, accountant or credit counselor to obtain advice with respect to their particular situation. No reader, user, or browser of this site should act or not act on the basis of information on this site. Always seek personal legal, financial or credit advice for your relevant jurisdiction. Only your individual attorney or advisor can provide assurances that the information contained herein – and your interpretation of it – is applicable or appropriate to your particular situation. Use of, and access to, this website or any of the links or resources contained within the site do not create an attorney-client or fiduciary relationship between the reader, user, or browser and website owner, authors, contributors, contributing firms, or their respective employers.
Credit.com receives compensation for the financial products and services advertised on this site if our users apply for and sign up for any of them. Compensation is not a factor in the substantive evaluation of any product.
Despite tales of highly sophisticated, fluid-fingered cyber ninjas working tirelessly to penetrate heretofore impenetrable, firewalled, super secure databases, many identity thieves actually have a pretty easy job getting what they need to make a killing. The number of people out there with tight personal cyber security is fairly limited — those who only go online via virtual private networks (VPNs) and communicate solely via encrypted email and messaging apps. They aren’t so easy for the average scam artist to “get.”
Then there’s the rest of the online community. For most folks, “personal cyber hygiene” is an exotic idea. This makes a majority of the population very vulnerable. So, a fraudster doesn’t have to be particularly smart or skillful to hack them. It’s all very frightening, but when it comes to identity-related tax fraud, it’s not as tough as you might think (or hope). The reason is much more frightening: There is no need to be a savvy hacker to get all the information to commit identity-related tax fraud. You just need to be creative and persistent.
While many cry foul and point to an incompetent government or bad business practices as the vector for the proliferation of identity-related crime, the problem has become pandemic and systemic and its origin no longer really matters. Around the protection and storage of our personally identifiable information (PII), consider for a moment that we all share a fair amount of blame in the growing tax fraud epidemic—whether through lax individual PII management, an unquenchable thirst to share every tidbit of our lives on social networking sites, or a poor understanding of basic online security practices.
That’s not to say the government isn’t a significant player in this evolving Shakespearian drama. A recent news story demonstrates, yet again, that real life is often much stranger —and exponentially more infuriating — than fiction. The IRS was forced to suspend an online tool to retrieve forgotten Identity Protection PINs. If you don’t know what that sort of PIN is exactly, you can probably guess: It’s the six-digit key system that the IRS created to ensure that you are actually you when you file your taxes.
Yes, you got that right. The system devised by the IRS to make filing safer after you have become a victim of identity theft was compromised. Fraudsters figured out a way to commit fraud using the fraud protection system created by arguably the most defrauded agency in the U.S.
The government is not to blame entirely. Neither is the average, non-VPN using webizen. No one is to blame, and yet everyone is.
Reality check: There’s just a long and ever-growing line of future victims, because so many people have had their PII compromised through data breaches and a chorus line of “ishings” (phishing, spear-phishing, vishing and SMishing), as well as other information SNAFUs. There just aren’t enough bad guys floating around to commit all the potential crimes that cornucopia of information makes possible.
So, besides withdrawing all cash from every account you own and handing it out to complete strangers in the middle of Times Square (whilst navigating a mob of cartoon characters who want you to take your picture with them for $20), what can you do?
The days of identity-related tax fraud are no passing trend or transient ripple in national crime statistics. It’s an entrenched problem that will not be solved in the near future. As ever, you are the best, and ultimate, guardian of your personal finances. Act accordingly.
Image: Jupiterimages
April 11, 2023
Uncategorized
September 13, 2021
Uncategorized
August 4, 2021
Uncategorized