Identity theft is a big issue with this type of hack and is been going on for some time.
Filing fraudlent tax returns so that the IRS issues refunds to miscreants in your name. The best solution is a complete credit freeze on your account among the three credit agencies. The minimum is a credit alert for 90 days renewing each ninety days.
Credit monitoring services normally notifies after the fact.
China To Blame in Anthem Hack?
Krebs on Security
Bloomberg reports that U.S. federal investigators probing
the theft of 80 million Social Security records and other sensitive data from insurance giant
Anthem Inc. are pointing the finger at state-sponsored hackers from China. Although unconfirmed, that suspicion would explain a confidential alert the
FBI circulated last week warning that Chinese hackers were targeting personally identifiable information from U.S. commercial and government networks.
According to
this story from Bloomberg’s
Michael Riley and
Jordan Robertson, “the attack appears to follow a pattern of thefts of medical data by foreigners seeking a pathway into the personal lives and computers of a select group — defense contractors, government workers and others, according to a U.S. government official familiar with a more than year-long investigation into the evidence of a broader campaign.”
Citing Tax Fraud Spike, TurboTax Suspends State E-Filings
TurboTax owner
Intuit Inc. said Thursday that it is temporarily suspending the transmission of state e-filed tax returns in response to a
surge in complaints from consumers who logged into their TurboTax accounts only to find crooks had already claimed a refund in their name.
“During this tax season, Intuit and some states have seen an increase in suspicious filings and attempts by criminals to use stolen identity information to file fraudulent state tax returns and claim tax refunds,” the company said in
a statement.
Tax Fraud Gang Targeted Healthcare Firms
Earlier this month, I wrote about an organized cybercrime gang that has been hacking into HR departments at organizations across the country and
filing fraudulent tax refund requests with the IRS on employees of those victim firms. Today, we’ll look a bit closer at the activities of this crime gang, which appears to have targeted a large number of healthcare and senior living organizations that were all using the same third-party payroll and HR services provider.
