Taxable Talk

Let me give some helpful hints to anyone who is thinking of engaging in a life of crime. First, don’t brag about it to others. Live your life in a nice peaceful way and blend in. Second, if you do brag about it, don’t brag on the Internet. Third, if you do brag about it on the Internet, don’t post pictures like this one:

Rashia Wilson (Image Credit: Tampa Police Department)

Showing pictures of yourself with stacks of bills might make even an unaware police department take interest. (For more such helpful tips, see Kelly Erb’s column.)

In any case, Ms. Wilson, who was indicted last year, was sentenced earlier this week to 21 years at ClubFed. She had pled guilty to charges of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Judge James Moody Jr. sentenced Ms. Wilson. Judge Moody stated, “She knew what she was doing was wrong. She reveled in the fact that it was wrong.” Ms. Wilson was also ordered to make restitution of $3.1 million, though it’s doubtful she has all that money.

Yesterday, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration released a report on identity theft detection at the IRS. The reported noted that the IRS stopped $2.2 billion of fraudulent refund checks to be issued. Yet other reports have estimated that $5 billion in identity theft-related refund checks get issued annually. Meanwhile, the IRS continues spending money on a quixotic mission to regulate tax professionals.

Tags: Identity.Theft

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 18th, 2013 at 8:53 am and is filed under IRS, Tax Fraud. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.