Tax return scams on the rise, police say

HINSDALE, Ill. (WLS) -- Enid Blanton is trying to reclaim her tax refund after someone stole it.

"I am being treated as the criminal instead of the people who actually did this," Blanton said. It could be months before she gets her $5,700 tax refund after a scammer e-filed in her name.

"We file jointly. We never file individually," Blanton said. "It would have never been me."

The IRS investigation could take 180 days.

"My tax preparer, who has been doing our taxes the last five years, ran my name through four or five times and it kept coming back I already filed. And I said, 'No, I haven't filed,'" Blanton said.

At the IRS field office in Chicago, investigators say use of the scheme has tripled in the last few years. Crooks only need a name and social security number to file online then have a refund deposited to pre-paid cards or gift cards.

"The IRS is implementing filters on the front-end, limiting the number of tax refunds in a single bank account. We are limiting the number of refunds you can load on a pre- paid credit card," Stephen Boyd, IRS acting special agent in charge, said.

The IRS said those tools have helped to prevent about $24 billion in false refunds. In west suburban Hinsdale, police are seeing a huge increase in reported cases: 17 this year alone.

"With the accessibility of public Wi-Fi, it is difficult for law enforcement or any investigator to determine where that information was first received but then also where that information was used to file the false return," Hinsdale Police Sgt. Mark Wodka said. Although many tax refund criminals hide behind public Wi-Fi, investigators can issue subpoenas to recover IP addresses and track them down.

Sgt. Wodka suggests consumers protect their social security numbers at places like medical offices.

"You are not sure where that record is going, how that record is being handled and, often in cases secretaries are working minimum wage processing the information," Sgt. Wodka said.

IRS agents in New York and Alabama have also been indicted in the scheme.