IRS Says ID Thieves Stole Info on 100K Taxpayers

Published

August 9, 2018

Bob Sullivan is author of the New York Times best-sellers Gotcha Capitalism and Stop Getting Ripped Off. His stories have appeared in The New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and hundreds of other publications. He has appeared as a consumer advocate and technology expert numerous times on NBC's TODAY show, NBC Nightly News, CNBC, NPR's Marketplace, Terry Gross' Fresh Air, and various other radio and TV outlets. He helped start MSNBC.com and wrote there for nearly 20 years, most of it penning the consumer advocacy column The Red Tape Chronicles. See more at www.bobsullivan.net. Follow Bob Sullivan on Facebook or Twitter.

Identity thieves used the IRS’ own systems to steal personal information from about 100,000 taxpayers, the agency said on Tuesday, according to the Associated Press.

Criminals already armed with some data on the taxpayers used the IRS “Get Transcript” website to obtain even more data on their victims, the IRS said.

Get Transcript gives taxpayers the ability to obtain tax returns from previous years. Visitors to the Get Transcript page at the IRS on Tuesday afternoon were greeted by the message: “Alert: The online Get Transcript service is currently unavailable. Transcripts may still be ordered using the Get Transcript by Mail service. We apologize for any inconvenience.”

The IRS said criminals had accessed the site from February through mid-May, and that it was shut down in reaction to the attack. Criminals armed with taxpayers’ Social Security numbers and other information were able to pass security tests and access the system.

“The IRS notes this issue does not involve its main computer system that handles tax filing submission; that system remains secure,” the agency said in a statement, according to AP. “In all, about 200,000 attempts were made from questionable email domains, with more than 100,000 of those attempts successfully clearing authentication hurdles.”

Reuters reported that IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said the criminals were part of an organized, professional gang.

“We’re confident these are not amateurs, these are actually organized crime syndicates that not only we but everyone in the financial industry are dealing with,” he said at a news conference.

The IRS is notifying taxpayers impacted by the attack.

While it’s not always possible to detect all forms of identity fraud, consumers should still regularly check their credit reports for unauthorized new accounts or other erroneous information. Consumers are entitled to their free credit reports every year from AnnualCreditReport.com, and can get a free credit report summary, updated every 14 days, on Credit.com to monitor for any changes.