Tax Return Fraud Epidemic Touches Urbandale Woman

Barb Bauer of Urbandale got all the way to age 65 without being a victim of identity theft.

But this month, she became one of a growing number of Americans whose Social Security number was used by someone to steal from the federal government.

When Bauer's son filed her taxes on April 4 using Turbo Tax, her return was rejected. He tried again and that prompted a message from the Internal Revenue Service telling Bauer that two tax returns cannot use the same Social Security number. 

"I was horrified. I walked into my boss's office. She thought I was going to pass out."

By the time Bauer talked to an IRS official, he told her she likely was the victim of tax return fraud. 

"He said this is rampant. They hadn't seen it that much before, but this year it was terrible," said Bauer.

Urbandale police say they've had more people filing police reports on this than ever before. Police Information Officer Jeff Casey said he's taken two or three cases himself.

"It's hitting the national news as far as the number of cases," he said.

Urbandale Part of National Trend of Increased Tax Fraud

According to an April 16 report on CBSNews.com, the IRS says identity thieves tried to claim $6.5 billion last year.

"We see a lot of gang members who are now involved in tax refund identity schemes because it's easy. It's easy to do. It's less violent and it's very lucrative," Wifredo Ferrer, a federal prosecutor in Florida, told the news network.

 If you think you are the victim of identity theft you can call the IRS at 800-908-4490.

Bauer doesn't really know what happened or how thieves got her information. Ironically, she said she owed money to the federal government.

That doesn't matter because whoever used her identity also may have used fictitious income. When you file online, the IRS often sends the refund out before it cross-checks all returns against employers' payroll records.

At this point, Bauer feels she's lucky. She's not out anything but about 20 hours of her time to try to get this straightened out. At first she feared identity thieves might have gotten money out of her bank accounts or retirement accounts.

She said she had to send the IRS a copy of her drivers license, a copy of the police report she filed and an IRS Identity Theft Affidavit, Form 14039, that she filled out. 

She said she's surprised the thieves waited to file until March 28. "If I would have filed sooner, they would have been the one that had the problem."

Minimize Your Risk of Identity Theft

• Don’t carry your Social Security card or any documents with your Social Security number on them.
• Don’t give a business your Social Security number just because they ask. Give it only when required.
• Protect your financial information.
• Check your credit report every 12 months.
• Secure personal information in your home.
• Protect your personal computers by using firewalls, anti-spam/virus software, update security patches, and change passwords for Internet accounts.
• Don’t give personal information over the phone, through the mail or on the Internet unless you have initiated the contact or you are sure you know who you are dealing with.

You can find more articles from this ongoing series, “Dispatches: The Changing American Dream” from across the country at The Huffington Post.