Thief's mistake alerts lawmaker to tax fraud

• So far this year%2C the IRS has learned about more than 200%2C000 tax ID theft cases
• The agency also has issued more than 770%2C000 personal identification numbers to previous victims
• In fiscal 2012%2C the IRS prevented the issuance of more than %2420 billion in fraudulent refunds

JACKSON, Miss. — One Mississippi lawmaker received a $1,700 tax refund check, and he didn't even have to file to get it.

State Rep. Lester "Bubba" Carpenter, a Republican from Burnsville, Miss., went to an accountant to e-file his taxes but found out that a return already had been done in his name. At about the same time, a letter from the IRS with the refund check arrived at his home.

Apparently, an identity thief had asked for a refund filed in Carpenter's name to be automatically deposited but got the information for the new bank account wrong. So the IRS sent the check to the address it had on file, Carpenter's house in Burnsville, because the thief hadn't changed the home address on the fraudulent form.

"It was like someone punched me in the gut," the lawmaker said when he found out he was ID theft victim. "It's a sick feeling."

Since the start of this year, the IRS has worked with victims across the country to resolve more than 200,000 ID theft cases, IRS Acting Commissioner Steven Miller said in a statement. It also has expanded a pilot program called Identity Protection PIN to protect victims with previously confirmed cases of identity theft.

The agency has issued more than 770,000 Identity Protection PINs this tax season to previous ID theft victims, Miller said.

Carpenter went to the Mississippi Attorney General's Office where officials did a computer search and found that two other individuals, including the one in Texas, were using his Social Security number, he said.

He worries that someone could use his information try to to open a credit account, he said. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts apparently ran into a similar problem last month when he told a Starbucks barista in Washington that his credit-card information had been stolen.

Carpenter reported the crime to state and federal officials who are keeping a watch to flag any unusual activity with his Social Security number.

He said he was told to file paper tax returns this year for both his federal and state taxes. The deadline to file income tax returns is Monday.

Since October, more than 670 criminal identity theft investigations have been opened nationwide, Miller said.

In fiscal 2012 the agency prevented issuance of more than $20 billion in fraudulent refunds — up from $14 billion the year before — the IRS said.