New year. Same old scam.
This tax season, seniors should be aware of online tax fraud.
Tax fraud from online tax programs is becoming a bigger and bigger problem for American consumers. There are literally millions of online accounts that criminals can use to prey on legitimate taxpayers, stealing their identity and pocketing their hard-earned money. Everyone is at risk, especially seniors.
Even worse, some online tax services might be part of the problem.
For example, the owner of one popular online tax service, TurboTax, appears to have looked the other way instead of protecting its customers. A pending lawsuit alleges that even after learning that its lax security measures were leading to widespread fraud, the makers of TurboTax refused to solve basic security issues. The problem was so bad that two employees at the company blew the whistle over their employer’s unwillingness to protect its customers.
TurboTax Whistleblowers Speak Out
“ We found literally millions of accounts that were 100 percent used only for fraud. But management explicitly forbade us from either flagging the accounts as fraudulent, or turning off those accounts.” – Robert Lee, former security business partner for the owner of TurboTax, February 2015
“ Something like preventing multiple people from using the same Social Security number is extremely simple to do and that would stop a ton of fraud dead in its tracks, and that was one of many recommendations that we made that they would not implement.” – Shane MacDougall, former security engineer for the owner of TurboTax, March 2015
Be careful. Protect yourself.
Criminals are out there, waiting to steal money from taxpayers. Online technology is one of the weapons they use. This tax season, be aware of fraud and the damage it can cause. Research a tax service before using it and deal with people you trust.
