Poll: Americans Blame IRS for Tax ID Theft

The tax agency has become an ATM for identity thieves

News reports of tax identity theft have been surging lately, especially with the reported thousands of cases in the last month in Florida alone. This should be a good reminder for people to be more and more careful with their personal and private data.

However, a new survey from TrustedID, an identity protection and privacy service, shows that more than half of consumers believe that the IRS is 100 percent responsible for ensuring that no one can file a return in their name and claim their tax refund. …

According to the United States House Committee on Oversight & Government Reform, over 1.1 million tax returns were filed by identity thieves for the 2011 processing year, up more than 21 times from just 51,700 fraudulent returns in 2008. In addition, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration believes that tax identity theft could cost the IRS approximately $21 billion in fraudulent returns in the next five years.