Miami Tax Vice
January 10, 2014 12:52 PM Subscribe
Beware of Gangsters Filing Tax Returns. Florida gangbangers have found a new path to illicit riches: tax refund fraud.
See? Fox News is right about poor people leeching off the government, because two guys.
posted by Sys Rq at 1:11 PM on January 10, 2014 [11 favorites]
posted by Sys Rq at 1:11 PM on January 10, 2014 [11 favorites]
With the Chicago hip hop thread in mind from the other day, I was hoping for some YouTube diss videos, where this gang would show off their 1099's and tell that little bitch Jackson Hewitt that they're gonna drill his ass. H&R Block Killaz for life!
posted by dr_dank at 1:14 PM on January 10, 2014 [8 favorites]
posted by dr_dank at 1:14 PM on January 10, 2014 [8 favorites]
What's that saying about Capone?
posted by symbioid at 1:17 PM on January 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by symbioid at 1:17 PM on January 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
Meanwhile, JPMorgan Chase & Co., already beset by other costly legal woes, has agreed to pay $1.7 billion to settle criminal charges accusing the bank of ignoring obvious warning signs of Bernard Madoff's massive Ponzi scheme, federal authorities said Tuesday.
The government said the $1.7 billion represented the largest ever bank forfeiture and the largest Department of Justice penalty for a Bank Secrecy Act violation. The settlement includes a so-called deferred prosecution agreement that requires the bank to acknowledge failures in its protections against money laundering but also allows it to avoid criminal charges. No individual executives were accused of wrongdoing.
posted by mikelieman at 1:26 PM on January 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
The government said the $1.7 billion represented the largest ever bank forfeiture and the largest Department of Justice penalty for a Bank Secrecy Act violation. The settlement includes a so-called deferred prosecution agreement that requires the bank to acknowledge failures in its protections against money laundering but also allows it to avoid criminal charges. No individual executives were accused of wrongdoing.
posted by mikelieman at 1:26 PM on January 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
What's that saying about Capone?
Is it this?
"This American system of ours, call it Americanism, call it capitalism, call it what you will, gives each and every one of us a great opportunity if we only seize it with both hands and make them."
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 1:31 PM on January 10, 2014 [1 favorite]
Is it this?
"This American system of ours, call it Americanism, call it capitalism, call it what you will, gives each and every one of us a great opportunity if we only seize it with both hands and make them."
posted by Bunny Ultramod at 1:31 PM on January 10, 2014 [1 favorite]
Personally, I blame Obama.
posted by R. Schlock at 1:32 PM on January 10, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by R. Schlock at 1:32 PM on January 10, 2014 [1 favorite]
Herbert Kornfeld lives!
posted by Ratio at 1:39 PM on January 10, 2014 [7 favorites]
posted by Ratio at 1:39 PM on January 10, 2014 [7 favorites]
Single page link.
OK, I'll take the bait: what does the JPMorgan massive corporate fraud have to do with this smaller individual fraud? Different crimes, different scales, different criminals, different victims, and different investigators. I'm as mad as anyone that the penalty for JP Morgan and its executives isn't more severe, but why does that mean we shouldn't try to stop identity thieves from stealing money from the government?
posted by Nelson at 1:42 PM on January 10, 2014 [3 favorites]
OK, I'll take the bait: what does the JPMorgan massive corporate fraud have to do with this smaller individual fraud? Different crimes, different scales, different criminals, different victims, and different investigators. I'm as mad as anyone that the penalty for JP Morgan and its executives isn't more severe, but why does that mean we shouldn't try to stop identity thieves from stealing money from the government?
posted by Nelson at 1:42 PM on January 10, 2014 [3 favorites]
If your identity is ever stolen, one step that should be taken is to file this form with the IRS to flag your account. This supposedly puts extra scrutiny on your tax filings.
posted by nerdler at 1:42 PM on January 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by nerdler at 1:42 PM on January 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
Amateurs. If these guys had any brains they would have incorporated as a bank.
posted by photoslob at 1:43 PM on January 10, 2014 [7 favorites]
posted by photoslob at 1:43 PM on January 10, 2014 [7 favorites]
what does the JPMorgan massive corporate fraud have to do with this smaller individual fraud? Different crimes, different scales, different criminals, different victims, and different investigators. I'm as mad as anyone that the penalty for JP Morgan and its executives isn't more severe, but why does that mean we shouldn't try to stop identity thieves from stealing money from the government?
No one is saying we shouldn't stop identity thieves from stealing money. We're only saying that we should be pursuing JPMorgan as aggressively as we pursue individuals.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:46 PM on January 10, 2014 [6 favorites]
No one is saying we shouldn't stop identity thieves from stealing money. We're only saying that we should be pursuing JPMorgan as aggressively as we pursue individuals.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:46 PM on January 10, 2014 [6 favorites]
Yeah, why should the government go after one or two businesses defrauding the government of a few hundred million when they could be cracking down on hundreds of identity thieves and saving the taxpayers twenty, thirty, maybe even a hundred thousand dollars?
posted by straight at 1:57 PM on January 10, 2014 [3 favorites]
posted by straight at 1:57 PM on January 10, 2014 [3 favorites]
Just for the record, JP Morgan paid $20 billion in fines last year. Yes, that's "just" one quarter's worth of earnings, but still, 20 yards...
posted by chavenet at 1:58 PM on January 10, 2014
posted by chavenet at 1:58 PM on January 10, 2014
This happened to me last year. I tried to file electronically, and the IRS said, "Sorry, but you've already filed." I made some calls and got copies of my returns, only to find that someone had, indeed, filed from an address five hundred miles from me for a whole bunch of student deductions and other things I've never used. Third bout of identity theft in the past three years. The IRS has my account flagged, through I wonder if that'll do any good.
Bloody identity thieves, man. Bloody corporate tax frauds. Bloody Congress not doing anything to bloody fix the bloody government to make things bloody smoother for us bloody idiots who pay bloody taxes to pay for their bloody benefits and let them pad their bloody resumes for their bloody future careers as bloody lobbyists or bloody consultants or bloody talking heads on bloody cable shows.
Sorry. Tax season just puts me in a bloody-minded mood.
posted by RakDaddy at 1:58 PM on January 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
Bloody identity thieves, man. Bloody corporate tax frauds. Bloody Congress not doing anything to bloody fix the bloody government to make things bloody smoother for us bloody idiots who pay bloody taxes to pay for their bloody benefits and let them pad their bloody resumes for their bloody future careers as bloody lobbyists or bloody consultants or bloody talking heads on bloody cable shows.
Sorry. Tax season just puts me in a bloody-minded mood.
posted by RakDaddy at 1:58 PM on January 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
Wait, how is this a "new" scam?
It's not new, but it has been getting worse. Refund fraud in 2013 was double that of the previous year.
posted by jpe at 2:05 PM on January 10, 2014
someone tried to throw a laptop into the pool from a second-story window. He missed, and it landed in the grass
A DOD 5220.22-M compliant secure wipe would have worked better, methings...
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 2:08 PM on January 10, 2014
A DOD 5220.22-M compliant secure wipe would have worked better, methings...
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 2:08 PM on January 10, 2014
$1.9 million and you're a gangster, $60 billion and you're a government contractor. "Organized crime has learned that stealing from the federal government can be easier and more lucrative than dealing drugs." Corporate America learned this 50 years ago...
posted by headless at 2:34 PM on January 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
posted by headless at 2:34 PM on January 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
Backing away from the derail here, this is a significant problem. My employer sought to hire contractors for seasonal work involving access to credit information and was assured by the sub that all had passed a rigorous background check. Lo and behold, one of them was running an operation just like this one and had just been indicted (thankfully this was discovered before she had access to sensitive data). The convicted persons in the story stole more than $2 million - small in aggregate given the scale of the fraud ("An estimate by the U.S. Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration puts the figure at $4 billion in 2011 alone—and potentially $21 billion by 2017"), but probably something their targets could not possibly afford to part with.
Bernie Madoff, scumbag that he is, likely did not rip off your family or your friends; people like this probably will at some point.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 2:38 PM on January 10, 2014 [3 favorites]
Bernie Madoff, scumbag that he is, likely did not rip off your family or your friends; people like this probably will at some point.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 2:38 PM on January 10, 2014 [3 favorites]
So what you're saying is the North Miami Beach gang division should split their attention between home invasions, identity theft, and systemic fraud from Wall Street investment banks? Come to think of it, gang cops busting a few JP Morgan executives' heads while they're on vacation in Miami Beach would be kind of hilarious.
Meanwhile, back in reality, one solution for this IRS refund fraud is suggested in the fine article. "The IRS could wait to match stated incomes with what employers report as wages paid." That seems a wise thing to do. In general the IRS is prevented from doing any sort of modern data collection or analysis, hamstrung by anti-tax Republican lunatics. While we're improving the IRS' data analytics capability let's have the IRS match reported capital gains to brokerage records of purchase and sale prices to shut off some high-end tax fraud too.
posted by Nelson at 3:22 PM on January 10, 2014
Meanwhile, back in reality, one solution for this IRS refund fraud is suggested in the fine article. "The IRS could wait to match stated incomes with what employers report as wages paid." That seems a wise thing to do. In general the IRS is prevented from doing any sort of modern data collection or analysis, hamstrung by anti-tax Republican lunatics. While we're improving the IRS' data analytics capability let's have the IRS match reported capital gains to brokerage records of purchase and sale prices to shut off some high-end tax fraud too.
posted by Nelson at 3:22 PM on January 10, 2014
A DOD 5220.22-M compliant secure wipe would have worked better, methin[k]s...
...and it would have taken several hours to work.
posted by cosmic.osmo at 3:58 PM on January 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
...and it would have taken several hours to work.
posted by cosmic.osmo at 3:58 PM on January 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
While we're improving the IRS' data analytics capability let's have the IRS match reported capital gains to brokerage records of purchase and sale prices to shut off some high-end tax fraud too.
IIRC, they just started collecting this data. My broker's statements for the past year or so have included a note indicating that, starting in 2013, the IRS is requiring them to report cost basis information for the assets of their customers (basically, values at purchase) alongside the information they were already collecting on sale values.
posted by indubitable at 6:18 PM on January 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
IIRC, they just started collecting this data. My broker's statements for the past year or so have included a note indicating that, starting in 2013, the IRS is requiring them to report cost basis information for the assets of their customers (basically, values at purchase) alongside the information they were already collecting on sale values.
posted by indubitable at 6:18 PM on January 10, 2014 [2 favorites]
It's not new, but it has been getting worse. Refund fraud in 2013 was double that of the previous year.
Gee, what a surprise. The powers that be put forward as a candidate for president who only pays 13% in taxes, probably less, during the two years he's willing to admit having paid taxes, and the rates for the forms of tax fraud that everyone else has easiest access to double. Seems he was a far better leader than anyone realised.
posted by XMLicious at 8:17 PM on January 10, 2014 [1 favorite]
Those two things really and truly have nothing to do with one another.
posted by to sir with millipedes at 4:00 AM on January 11, 2014
posted by to sir with millipedes at 4:00 AM on January 11, 2014
The IRS *COULD* just prefill your return with the data provided by the employer and avoid all this, of course.
posted by mikelieman at 5:06 AM on January 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
posted by mikelieman at 5:06 AM on January 11, 2014 [1 favorite]
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posted by The 10th Regiment of Foot at 1:06 PM on January 10, 2014 [1 favorite]