Criminals are known for “going big” or trying to steal as much as they can so that they can live extravagant lives. (After all, they usually reason that the ill-gotten money will allow them to buy luxury items such as designer clothes, expensive cars and posh vacations. They usually don’t think about the repercussions of getting caught.) A story posted on OANow.com tells about a woman who was involved in a stolen identity tax refund ring that claimed more than $7.5 million in tax refunds. Instead of getting to spend her cut of the illegally gained funds, she now has to pay it back and it doesn’t look like she’ll get to go home any time soon.
The article explains that the former Alabama state employee, who had access to personal identification information at two state agencies, was approached by a co-conspirator who needed stolen identities to file fraudulent tax returns. The former state employee provided mostly names and personal info of teenagers to the co-conspirators who then filed more than 3,000 fraudulent tax returns. (Teenagers do not usually file tax returns, so it could be years before they notice their identity had been stolen.)
The 30-year-old pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of conspiracy to file false claims and one count of aggravated identity theft. She received a prison sentence of 87 months to be followed by three years of supervised release. She also has to pay back nearly $3.1 million in restitution for her involvement. (Good luck on getting that back.) Several of her co-conspirators are scheduled to be sentenced as well.
When considering $7.5 million, you could say that this crime ring “went big” in their efforts to steal as much as they could from the government. But, instead of going big or going home, this fraudster lost big and is now going to prison.
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