The Associated Press recently reported that the President’s 2014 budget includes measures to combat Identity Theft particularly ID Theft related to IRS tax refund fraud- the fastest growing type of identity theft. Identity theft has been the #1 consumer complaint for 13 consecutive years. Tax refund fraud made up over 40% of all identity theft complaints reported to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in 2012, and increased nearly 140% compared to 2011.

The budget proposal includes civil penalties for these identity thieves that commit IRS tax fraud; revisions to W-2 forms so that consumer Social Security numbers are not visible; and limiting access to the Social Security Administration (SSA) Master Death Index, which publishes the Social Security numbers (SSn’s) of deceased Americans.

Civil fines for convicted tax fraud identity thieves would be assessed at $5,000 for each incidence of identity theft. Thieves that are skilled at this type of fraud are filing several fraudulent tax returns every day. For example, one couple that was prosecuted received over one million dollars by filing 220 fraudulent tax returns. Under the new budget proposal such a couple would have been fined 1.1 million dollars in addition to the criminal penalties of restitution and a prison sentence.

Thieves can obtain sufficient information to commit tax fraud and identity theft from employer files. The W-2 forms provide all of the victim’s information including the victim’s Social Security number and earnings that is necessary for a thief to file a tax return in the name of a victim and obtain a tax refund.

Under the budget proposal W-2 forms would be revised to include an employee identifying number instead of the employee’s SSN.

Also a suspected hotbed of information for criminals is the Social Security Administration’s Master Death Index.  A major goal of the index is to prevent fraud by allowing creditors to check and see applicants are using the SSN or name and SSN of a deceased person. The budget proposal seeks to limit access to the index to those that have a legitimate need to access it.

All these measures are key to mitigating ID Theft incidences.  For more information on steps to take for ID Theft protection, please visit www.hvshred.com

Despite the nasty weather Friday, the Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union members came out in scores and actually filled our shred truck with over 4 tons of confidential paperwork.  The turnout saved over 60 trees and over 10 cubic yards of landfill.

We are well on our way to match and possibly beat last year’s totals–Over the course of the 2012 events in conjunction with the Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union (HVFCU), Walden Federal Savings (Now Hometown Bank of the Hudson Valley), Wallkill Valley Federal Savings, Mid Hudson Valley Federal Credit Union we are thrilled to have helped community members recycle over 50 tons of paper, saving over 800 trees and 150 cubic yards of landfill.

Remember, the events are open to the public but are designed for homeowners with a suggested limit of 3 boxes or bags to make sure we help all the residential clients keep up with their junk mail and annual safe discarding of bank statements/credit card statements/ and tax documents.

So far, the schedule in 2013 includes the following dates:

Tuesday, April 23, HVFCU Pleasant Valley Branch  2:00 pm -5:00 pm

Friday, May 10, HVFCU New Windsor Branch 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Thursday, May 16, HVFCU Civic Center Branch  8:30 am – 11:30 am

Friday, June 7, HVFCU Beacon Branch 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Friday, June 14, HVFCU Arlington Branch 2pm-5pm

Friday, July 12, HVFCU Middletown Branch 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Friday, July 19, HVFCU Highland Branch 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Friday, August 2, HVFCU Newburgh Branch 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Tuesday, August 13, HVFCU Hollowbrook Branch 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Tuesday, September 10, HVFCU Fishkill Branch 3:00 pm -6:00 pm

Friday, September 13, HVFCU Hopewell Branch 10am-1pm

Tuesday, September 17, HVFCU Brewster 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Tuesday, September 24, HVFCU Kingston 9:00 am – 12:00 pm

Thursday, October 3, HVFCU Montgomery Branch 2:00 pm -5:00 pm

Saturday, October 19, HVFCU Poughkeepsie HQ 10:00 am- 1:00 pm

Your financial institutions and towns are the most likely to sponsor the shred events, so please suggest they contact us for more information about scheduling an event.  Contact Judith @ judith@hvshred.com (845) 705-7279

See you at a shred event event!

Every day is Earth Day for HV Shred and every month is Earth Month; still the world makes a point to recognize the fragility of our natural environment during the month of April.  Especially in the Hudson Valley, this is the month we wake up from the dark, sleepy winter days and remind ourselves how beautiful our landscapes are and worthy of preservation.

Along those lines, we take this moment to celebrate our year to date recycling efforts and thank our clients for their continued support doing our best to be part of the push towards sustainable business practices.

So far, in 2013, HV Shred clients have saved:

• 2,500 trees
• 1 million gallons of water
• 75,000 gallons of oil
• 95,000 pounds of air pollution
• 500 cubic yards of landfill space
• 650,000 Kilowatt hours of electricity

That’s over a 15% increase over the same period last year, so let’s keep the increased recycling efforts rolling!

To learn more about our on-site shredding and recycling service, please visit www.hvshred.com

Regular readers of the HV Shred blog know we consider the Identity Theft Resource Center a valuable source of helpful information regarding best practices to avoid identity theft.

In the latest installment, we borrow from their recent “myth vs. fact” post. 

Myth: “No one would want my identity because my credit is terrible.”
Fact: Yes they do.  We cannot tell you how many times we hear people say your credit score matters only slightly to an identity thief. Not only can thieves obtain funds via non-traditional methods, such as payday loans, but financial identity theft is only one type of the crime. Thieves can use your identity to get medical services, avoid criminal charges and receive government benefits. None of those scenarios has anything to do with your credit score.

For more on identity theft protection, please visit www.hvshred.com

We have already used this space to share why and how checking reports helps Americans when it comes to identity theft.  Of course, the key to education is repetition; for emphasis, we need to check our credit reports to detect unauthorized accounts.  Beyond that, inaccuracies can lead to all kinds of problems getting access to financing; not to mention having to pay more for financing.  Nobody wants to or should have to do that. 

Here are more good reasons to check your credit report regularly:

A Federal Trade Commission study of the U.S. credit reporting industry found that five percent of consumers had errors on one of their three major credit reports that could lead to them paying more for products such as auto loans and insurance.

Overall, the congressionally mandated study on credit report accuracy found that one in five consumers had an error on at least one of their three credit reports.

“These are eye-opening numbers for American consumers,” said Howard Shelanski, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Economics.  “The results of this first-of-its-kind study make it clear that consumers should check their credit reports regularly.  If they don’t, they are potentially putting their pocketbooks at risk.”

The study, in which participants were encouraged to use the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) process to resolve any potential credit report errors, also found that:

• One in four consumers identified errors on their credit reports that might affect their credit scores;
• One in five consumers had an error that was corrected by a credit reporting agency (CRA) after it was disputed, on at least one of their three credit reports;
• Four out of five consumers who filed disputes experienced some modification to their credit report;    
• Slightly more than one in 10 consumers saw a change in their credit score after the CRAs modified errors on their credit report; and
• Approximately one in 20 consumers had a maximum score change of more than 25 points and only one in 250 consumers had a maximum score change of more than 100 points.           

According to Charles Harwood of the FTC, “Your credit report has information about your finances and your bill-paying history, so it’s important to make sure it’s accurate.

Remember, credit reports are free through annualcreditreport.com; if you find an error you need to work with the credit reporting company to fix it.

For more on identity theft protection visit www.hvshred.com

Emphasizing an earlier post regarding early filing of tax returns is another news story about tax fraud.  The Miami Herald recently reported Frankie Jermaine Anderson has been charged in connection with $12 million in identity theft. He is charged with defrauding the government from filing fraudulent tax returns. Upon being arrested, he still had over $100,000 in un-cashed tax return checks. Anderson had used the proceeds to buy homes and luxury cars.

In a growing crime wave, perpetrators across the country are stealing the identities of various people — including prisoners, the dead, the poor and even children — who don’t file income tax returns in order to avoid having the IRS detect duplicate filings, authorities say. They also swipe people’s IDs to file phony tax returns.

Combined, the schemes have robbed the U.S. government of billions of dollars yearly since the crime began spreading in 2008, according to a Treasury Department report.

Authorities say identity theft is fueling the fraud: Florida has the highest rate in the country, with 178 complaints per 100,000 residents last year, followed by Georgia, with 120 complaints per 100,000 residents, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

But Florida’s rate is dwarfed by that in the Miami area, with 324 complaints per 100,000 residents.

In the past year, the U.S. attorney’s office says it has charged 125 defendants accused of about $138 million in tax-refund fraud.

Filing your taxes early will help mitigate the risk of your social security number being used to file a fraudulent return.  A little extra motivation to overcome the procrastination blues!

For more ideas for identity theft prevention, visit www.hvshred.com

According to a recent press release from the Federal Trade Commission, identity theft complaints continue to rank number one in the FTC’s list of complaints, with a 32% increase over 2011.  Of the 369,132 complaints reported in 2012, 46.4% involved issues with government documents or benefits fraud.  This represents a drastic spike of nearly 70% over the same types of cases last year.

In a state by state comparison, Florida continues to rank first in this type of identity theft, with 72% of the reported complaints involving government tax or benefits fraud.  Georgia (+66%), Mississippi (+58%), Michigan (+54%) and Louisiana (+53%) rounded out the top five states.

The growth in reporting government ID theft, as well as the increase in reporting from several smaller states, could be a reflection of either an increase in this type of crime, or an increase in awareness and reporting of this type of identity theft.  It is likely a combination of the two.  While the IRS doesn’t report complaints directly to the FTC Consumer Sentinel Network, its dedicated effort to build consumer awareness and education about the issue of tax fraud has likely contributed to consumers more often reporting this issue to the FTC, thus capturing this growth.

As with any type of identity theft, consumers need to have a better understanding of what has occurred, in order to further understand who they need to report the issue to – in this case, either law enforcement, a Better Business Bureau, another reporting government agency, or directly to the FTC.

In 2012 the number of complaints reported to the Consumer Sentinel Network grew to 2,061,495 up from 1,895,012 in 2011, for an increase of nearly nine percent.  

Since all shredded material is also recycled, on-site shredding service is a great way to destroy confidential paperwork in the most secure and environmentally friendly manner.  For more information visit www.hvshred.com

Every now and again, we use this space to highlight an upcoming event in our hometown of the Hudson Valley.  As co-chair of the Dutchess County Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Living Green Committee I invite one and all to our April 30th Green Symposium to be hosted by Vassar College running from 8am-noon.  Our featured speakers are recently awarded Business Person of the Year-Mike Arnoff sharing the experience of going solar with partnering vendor Hudson Solar.  We will also get answers for how to be more “green” with purchasing and waste reduction tips from the experts at Vassar College.  Lime Energy and NYSERDA will share the low hanging fruit available for small businesses to make minor adjustments and reap the benefits both environmental and financial.  There is still a lot of state money available to make changes large and small affordable.  This event will help you tap into them.

It’s a great line up and everyone will leave with actionable advice to save money and feel good about the environmental benefit as well.

The event is free and open to the public.

You can register for the event on the Chamber website www.dcrcoc.org

Feel free to contact me with any questions or suggestions for future events. www.hvshred.com

Hope to see you April 30th!

In good news/bad news, the IRS recently reported it is amping up protections and preventative measures to discourage, detect, and severely punish identity thieves.  Taxpayers can encounter identity theft involving their tax returns in several ways including when identity thieves try filing fraudulent refund claims using another person’s identifying information, which has been stolen. Innocent taxpayers are victimized because their refunds are delayed.

To help taxpayers, the IRS has a special section on IRS.gov dedicated to identity theft issues, including YouTube videos, tips for taxpayers and a special guide to assistance. For victims, the information includes how to contact the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit. For other taxpayers, there are tips on how taxpayers can protect themselves against identity theft.

Continuing a year-long enforcement push against refund fraud and identity theft, the Internal Revenue Service today announced the results of a massive national sweep in recent weeks targeting identity theft suspects in 32 states and Puerto Rico, which involved 215 cities and surrounding areas.

The January crackdown, a joint effort with the Department of Justice and local U.S. Attorneys offices, unfolded as the IRS opened the 2013 tax season. IRS Criminal Investigation expanded its efforts during January, pushing the total number of identity theft investigations to more than 1,460 since the start of the federal 2012 fiscal year on Oct. 1, 2011.

To stop identity thieves up front, the IRS has made a significant increase for the 2013 tax season in the number and quality of identity theft screening filters that spot fraudulent tax returns before refunds are issued. The IRS has dozens of identity theft screens now in place to protect tax refunds.

If a taxpayer receives a notice from the IRS indicating identity theft, they should follow the instructions in that notice. A taxpayer who believes they are at risk of identity theft due to lost or stolen personal information should contact the IRS immediately so the agency can take action to secure their tax account. The taxpayer should contact the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit at 800-908-4490. The taxpayer will be asked to complete the IRS Identity Theft Affidavit and follow the instructions on the back of the form based on their situation.

www.hvshred.com is also a great resource for identity theft protection resources.