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Is Your Identity Safe from Theft at H&R Block?
By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 8, 2010
Modified Apr 8, 2010
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By
John Del Signore
Published Apr 8, 2010
Modified Apr 8, 2010
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This is why you should NEVER file taxes—and if you do, you'd better hope your accountant isn't going to rip you off: At least twenty customers at an H&R Block in the Bronx were victims of identity theft, according to a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of the customers. Kevin Johns, a construction worker, has been filing his taxes though the Kingsbridge H&R Block location for at least 20 years, but this year he got a call from his tax preparer saying that his return was rejected because he had already filed. And City Room reports that whoever did it collected a sweet $8,499 refund!
The NYPD says customers of the branch were robbed by identity thieves who were most likely H&R Block employees who filed fraudulent returns using the customers' previous year’s adjusted gross income as proof of identity. "There’s only place that could have come from," Johns tells City Room: "H&R Block." James Fishman, one of the lawyers filing the class-action suit, says, "Because this is a seasonal business, for the most part, these are temporary employees who do their thing and leave and are never heard from again. But we know that it’s continuing at this office. Someone at H&R Block who is friendly with our clients said the same thing has happened this year."
And to top off an already bad day for tax preparers, today federal prosecutors announced fraud charges "against 26 tax preparers from the Bronx, Manhattan and New Jersey — none from H&R Block — accused of collecting tens of millions of dollars in refunds through identity theft over an eight-year period." Don't do taxes, kids. Taxes are bad.
Tagged
accountant
fraud
H&R Block
identity theft
tax preparer
taxes
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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