by: Mike Miller
1/26/2017

People are stealing from each other and the government at every turn. One place you do not expect thieves to be able to steal from the government is jail. Yet that is precisely what is happening all across the country.

The current scourge is tax refund fraud. Tax refund fraud has siphoned hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars from government coffers and into the hands of criminals, leaving identity theft victims unable to get their legitimate tax refunds.

It has gotten so ridiculously out of control that a couple is having to sue the Internal Revenue Service for delaying their tax refund after someone stole the husband's identity and used it to get a fraudulent tax refund.

Tax refund fraud is rampant in the state prisons, especially in the state of Florida. Why is Florida always the leader in cases of fraud (it also leads in prescription medication/Medicare fraud and welfare fraud)?

Here’s How it Works

Inmates use each-others' Social Security numbers and information from inmate family members and friends to file for phony refunds, he said. Some have made so much money they have used the proceeds to open legitimate businesses after they're released.

According to a former prisoner, when inmates did get caught committing tax fraud, they were given a slap on the wrist and moved to a different facility, where before long, they'd be at it again.

Supposedly this has been going on for more than 20 years!

Insanity, how can this happen? More importantly why doesn’t it stop? Let’s face it prisoners have too much free time and too much access to things they should not have. As long as they have Internet access might as well make them take a good online 4 hour theft class.

Source: Tampa Bay Online