Wake up and good morning. Tampa police criminal intelligence bureau detective Sal Augeri is scheduled to testify on Capitol Hill this morning in a hearing of the Senate Finance subcommittee on the difficulties of investigating tax fraud and identity theft.
This is the second hearing since May 2011 by Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., (AP photo, left) on the topic of identity theft and tax fraud. Since 2008, the IRS has identified 470,000 cases of identity theft affecting 390,000 taxpayers. "While the IRS claims it has stopped over $1 billion in fraudulent refund claims," Nelson stated, "there is no reliable estimate of how much it has disbursed to criminals, scam artists and fraudsters."
But look at the trend line:
In 2008, there were 51,702 incidents of tax-related identity fraud;
In 2009, that number rose to 169,087.
And in 2010, that number again skyrocketed to 248,357.
Tampa ...