Sen. Warner Provides Resources to Help Virginia Victims of Tax-Related Identity Theft

Press Release

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner provided a variety of useful resources and an online form on his Senate website for Virginians who have been victims of tax ID theft to contact his office for assistance in receiving their tax refunds in a timely fashion.

A new link prominently posted on Sen. Warner's homepage provides a variety of relevant resources to help consumers protect themselves from identity theft, and advice on how to resolve issues with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) so that legitimate taxpayers who have been victims of identity theft are able to receive their tax refunds. The Senator's resource page also includes a form for Virginia constituents to use to seek additional help from his office if they have been the victim of tax-related identity theft.

"I hear from individuals nearly every day who either have been victims of ID fraud this tax season, or else they know someone who's been victimized. Unfortunately, this con is extremely easy for criminals to pull off -- all scammers need is a victim's Social Security number and name to file a fraudulent return and claim a fake refund," said Sen. Warner. "As data breaches exposing the personal information of consumers have become more frequent, the number of these cases has soared. Often, this fraud is only discovered when honest taxpayers try to file their taxes and claim their tax refund, only to be denied by the IRS -- an issue that can take months to clear up. Many Virginians can't afford to wait that long to receive the refunds they are counting on to pay their bills. We all -- public sector, private sector, consumers -- have to do more to protect individuals' personal information and prevent identity theft."

Tax-related identity theft typically happens when a scammer files a forged tax return using a taxpayer's Social Security number to claim a refund. When the real taxpayer attempts to file his or her return, the victim receives a message that a return has already been filed -- which can lead to significant delays before the real taxpayer is able to clear up the problem and claim the refund to which they are entitled.

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