One such case is that of Krystle Marie Reyes of Salem, Oregon who committed the largest case of tax fraud in the history of Oregon. Ms. Reyes cheated the taxpayers of Oregon out of over $2 million by using Turbo Tax software to file a false tax return. Using the tax software, she calmly and fraudulently claimed that she had earned $3 million in wages, and was therefore entitled to $2.1 million in refunds. Without checking the validity of her income statement, the state loaded a Visa debit card with the refund amount, and sent it to her in April, 2012.
Unfortunately for Ms. Reyes, she reported that another debit card had been lost or stolen, and the subsequent police report brought the case to the attention of the state's revenue service. When she was arrested on June 6, 2012, she had already spent approximately $150,000 in two months.
This case is raising concerns for the Federal government. The IRS also issues some refunds via debit cards when the taxpayer does not have a bank account. Now authorities are becoming concerned that the IRS will send these debit cards to scammers, exactly like what happened in Oregon. In fact, according to a CNN report dated March 20, 2012, "the IRS could not provide an estimate of how much fraudulent refund money it has issued." In other words, they may have already sent millions of dollars to people who were committing tax fraud.
Now that the federal and state governments have been alerted to the problem, potential tax scammers should not assume they can duplicate the actions of Ms. Reyes. The IRS and state taxing authorities are putting in place filters to prevent this from ever happening again. Undoubtedly, once the case comes to trial, the consequences for Ms. Reyes will be severe.
You are reading from the blog: http://lies-and-liars.blogspot.com/
Photo of federal seal courtesy of www.wikipedia.com/commons
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