The Internal Revenue Service has been handing out money to people not entitled to receive any of it as a result of tax fraud, according to MyGovCost.org. The IRS sent 655 tax refunds to a single address in Lithuania, and 343 refunds went to one address in Shanghai – the People’s Republic of China.
Of course, every community in America has their share of tax frauds with interesting methods of ripping off their neighbors.
Roshelle Davis, of Casa Grande, pleaded guilty to defrauding the government and was sentenced to prison for a term of 18 months with credit for time served. Roshelle and her twin sister, Rosalyn, were indicted for filing at least 150 income tax returns and claiming at least $675,000.00 in false refund payments.
Kenya Malcolm, 34, and Charles Ross, 40, both of Surprise, Ariz., and Bernard Brantley, 43, of Waterbury, Conn., were charged last month with various conspiracy, fraud, theft and identity theft offenses.
The indictments allege that between November 2012 and May 2013, Malcolm, Brantley, Ross and others conspired to file false federal income tax returns in the names of individuals without the individuals’ knowledge. As part of the scheme, Brantley, Ross and others advertised to victims that they were eligible for “Obama stimulus money” or “government funding” through a prepaid debit card, and then obtained personal identifying information from the victims. Malcolm, who operated a business in Arizona called “Biggest Refund Taxes,” used the victims’ names, dates of birth, and Social Security Numbers to prepare and file false federal income tax returns.
Malcolm then directed tax refunds totaling more than $2.5 million to be deposited partially into bank accounts controlled by Malcolm, her family members, her employees, and Ross, and partially into bank accounts linked to prepaid debit cards that were sent to the victims.
According to MyGovCost.org, Long Island resident Carol Cooke received tax refunds for thousands of dollars, all to people who did not live at her residence. This was obvious fraud but when Cooke contacted the IRS, they gave her the runaround.
In another case, 23,994 tax refunds were sent to a single address in Atlanta, including 8,393 refunds deposited to a single bank.
The IRS sent some $3.6 billion in fraudulent tax refunds to people using stolen identities, down from $5.2 billion in 2011, according to MyGovCost.com.
A statement from the IRS says it takes the fraud issue “very seriously.” K. Lloyd Billingsley writes, “That adds insult to injury because the agency’s ‘comprehensive and aggressive identity theft strategy’ does not appear to be working.”