Another Identity Theft Threat
Here’s a slightly different twist on the typical identity theft story… A guy by the name of Jason Smith who lives in Danielsville, GA recently contacted the IRS to find out why his $600 tax refund hadn’t arrived only to learn that they were waiting for him to pay $12k in back taxes.
When Smith requested a copy of his work history, he discovered that the government believed that he was working two jobs — his regular job plus another job at a nearby chicken plant. As it turns out, an illegal immigrant named Nohe Gomez Hernandez had used Smith’s social security number to get a job at the chicken plant, and this apparent second job forced Smith into a higher tax bracket, thereby generating the income tax shortfall.
As an interesting aside, Hernandez’s attorney is arguing that he shouldn’t be prosecuted under Georgia’s identity theft law since he didn’t use the information to pilfer Smith’s bank account or rack up credit cards charges. Rather, he used Smith’s social security numebr solely to secure a job. Not surprisingly, the prosecution disagrees.
[Source: Access North Georgia]
Published on October 2nd, 2006 - 3 Comments
Filed under: Identity Theft
email this article
- add to tip'd - digg this - stumble it - save to del.icio.us
Related articles...
» One Year Ago This Week (July 30th - August 5th)» Identity Theft Tops FTC Complaints
» The Riskiest States for Identity Theft
» From the Archives (September 30th - October 6th)
» One Year Ago This Week (August 20th - August 26th)
» One Year Ago This Week (July 9th - July 15th)
» Social Networking and Identity Theft
» Ten New Money Scams, Part 1
Get via RSS
Interesting….my husband just started a new job and when they pulled his credit/criminal history it showed his ssn as being used by two different hispanic men. We have yet to experience any ramifications from this but I’ll now watch out for our taxes.
Comment by ML Mom — Oct 3rd 2006 @ 4:35 pmFive Cent Nickel,
My wife went for a job about 11 years ago, and there were TWO different people using her SSN. Interestingly, here maiden name is also “Smith”.
Keep Picking Up Those Nickels,
NCN
This comment is part of my 100 Comments Series over at No Credit Needed.
Comment by NCN — Oct 6th 2006 @ 2:41 pmIs there an way to ask IRS if I have two jobs? Or how do I find out if somebody else is not using my ssn?
Comment by Bharani — Oct 11th 2006 @ 2:08 pm