Page 9 - Delaware Medical Journal - June 2016
P. 9
PRESIDENT’S PAGE
DOROTHY M. MOORE, MD
MSD President Dorothy M. Moore, MD is an Ophthalmologist who practices at Delaware Eye MD Associates in Wilmington.
Are You a Victim of Identity Theft?
Arecent email trail raised this important question: “Are you a victim of Identity Theft?” I have
to this nightmare in March of 2015. Over the last few years, identity thieves have found a new way to gain fraudulent funds the IRS. They are targeting physicians and other health care professionals, as well
as attorneys. This is a nationwide issue with an uptick in the last few years as the IRS has moved from paper to electronic help decrease expenses. This results in fewer staff to handle the claims, address the complaints, and to do the follow up necessary. Typically, these fraudulent requesting a refund by a prepaid debit card as opposed to a paper check. When weeks later, you receive an error code or a rejection and the nightmare begins.
An MSD Flash Survey on this topic conducted in early May of this year garnered 94 responses with 53 percent
of those responding stating that they had been the victim of Identity Theft tax fraud in the past two years. Additionally, 50 percent of the total respondents reported that they personally knew another person who was victimized this way.
My personal saga began March 16, 2015, when my husband, a banker, attempted to listed as the primary tax payer and I am secondary, so you may think a potential thief would not take notice of a physician
be the primary taxpayer to get scammed. We got an error message suggesting that our secondary Social Security number had been used as a primary number on another return. First, we contacted TurboTax support and they emailed us all the information to get us started on our “road to recovery.” These thieves use legitimate tax return and claim a refund.
In 2013, the IRS estimated it paid
$5.8 billion, that’s “billion” with a
“b,” in fraudulent Identity Theft (IDT) refunds, but prevented $24.2 billion in
IDT refunds. This estimate was based
on assumptions made by the IRS and
there may be additional undetected
fraud, so the actual amount could be different from their estimates. This
fraud is a big cost to taxpayers. The recommended in January 2015 that the IRS should consider the economic costs and authentication to address this.1
fraudulent tax return with a victim’s Social Security number and a counterfeit W-2 indicating a refund is due. Employers Administration and are then forwarded to the IRS, typically in July. Thus, the IRS individual taxpayer with the tax return
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