Identity Theft and Inmate Tax Refund Scams; A Must View Investigative Report! (VIDEO)

A recently released report by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration shows potentially hundreds of millions of tax dollars are stolen every year by prison inmates filing tax returns for work they never did asking for tax refunds they aren't due.

It's an eye-opening report on identity theft and the growing inmate tax refund scam that you need to know about.  

See what happened to Denise 'Dee' Platt.

First she had her identity stolen -then she became concerned because the IRS didn't seem to understand what had happened to her and sent her tax refund money to the person who had stolen her identity.

Finally Platt lost patience after the IRS continued to send her tax refund checks to the person who posed as her, the person who stole her identity. Platt sought the help of a former IRS criminal agent, Ron Wise, of MRW Consulting of Fort Lauderdale who along with CBS News, investigated her claims. 

Watch the below video report by Miami's CBS4 I-Team investigator Stephen Stock who shows how easy it is for prison inmates to steal identities and tax returns to the tune of nearly a quarter BILLION dollars!

Excerpt:

As if pouring salt into an open wound, the IRS then sent Platt a 1099-INT form showing that the IRS was taxing her on the interest of the refund it, the government, had sent to the wrong person -the person who stole her identity. This despite the fact that an official admitted to Ron Wise that the IRS "had made a mistake" and sent the check to the wrong person, the person who scammed "Dee's" identity. 

Here a few additional excerpts from this disturbing investigative report

Prison inmates and IRS investigators alike say this tax refund scam has been going on for decades. But the full extent of the fraud is only now coming to light. "They'll file 10 or 20 of them (false tax returns) at a time," said one anonymous Florida prison inmate who witnessed and participated in the scam.

A Florida inmate who asked that the CBS4 I-Team hide his identity for fear he would be hurt exposing this scam, says that inmates simply file numerous 1040, 1040 short and 1040 E-Z tax forms with real names and real social security numbers but false employers, false income and often no W-2 forms attached.

All of the employers listed on the tax forms the I-Team reviewed did not exist.Ultimately, the anonymous inmate said, the inmates who perpetrate this fraud receive fraudulent tax refunds ranging anywhere between $3500 and $6500 per inmate per fraudulent tax return.

I-Team investigator Stephen Stock asked the anonymous inmate: "How much money are we talking about?" "Millions. Millions (of dollars)" replied the inmate.

April 24th UPDATE: Read much more about this growing type of tax refund fraud:
 Identity Theft Victims Complain: Tax Refunds Sent to Impostors--again!