Florida Consumer Newsletter – February 2020 ………………………

By | February 11, 2020
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Released by the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services 

Tax-Related Identity Theft

An identity thief may use your Social Security number (SSN) to get a tax refund or a job. This is tax-related identity theft. You may not know it has happened until:

  • the IRS sends you a letter by mail saying they have gotten a suspicious tax return that uses your SSN, or
  • you try to e-file your return, but it’s rejected as a duplicate because a return already has been filed using your SSN

If the IRS sends you a letter, follow the instructions in the letter. Then visit IdentityTheft.gov to report the identity theft to both the IRS and the FTC and get a recovery plan.

Uncovering Tax-Related Identity Theft

If someone uses your SSN to file for a tax refund before you do, here’s what happens: When you file your return, IRS records will show that someone else has already filed and gotten a refund. If you file by mail, the IRS will send you a notice or letter in the mail saying that more than one return was filed for you. If you try to e-file, the IRS will reject your tax return as a duplicate filing.

If someone uses your SSN to get a job, the employer may report that person’s income to the IRS using your SSN. When you file your tax return, you wouldn’t have included those earnings. IRS records will show you failed to report all your income. The agency will send you a notice saying you had wages that you didn’t report. But the IRS doesn’t know those wages were reported by an employer you don’t know, for work performed by someone else.

IRS notices about tax-related identity theft are sent by mail. The IRS doesn’t initiate contact with a taxpayer by sending an email, text, or social media message that asks for personal or financial information. The IRS also does not call taxpayers with threats of lawsuits or arrests. And, the IRS will never ask you to wire money, pay with a gift card or prepaid debit card, or share your credit card information over the phone.

If you get an email, text, or other electronic message that claims to be from the IRS, do not reply or click on any links. Instead, forward it to phishing@irs.gov. And report IRS imposters to the US Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at tigta.gov.

Dealing with Tax-Related Identity Theft

If the IRS sends you a notice or letter saying that someone used your SSN to get a tax refund, or saying there’s another problem, respond quickly and follow the instructions in the letter.

  • Call the IRS using the telephone number given in the letter. You’ll need the letter and a copy of your prior year’s tax return when you call to help verify your identity. Visit the IRS’s guide, IRS Identity Theft Victim Assistance: How It Works, for more information.

If you think someone used your SSN to file for a tax refund, but you haven’t gotten a letter from the IRS, use IdentityTheft.gov to report it to the IRS and FTC and get a recovery plan.

  • Visit IdentityTheft.gov to complete an IRS Identity Theft Affidavit (IRS Form 14039) and submit it to the IRS online so that the IRS can begin resolving your case. You’ll also be reporting the identity theft to the FTC.
  • File your tax return and pay any taxes you owe. If you can’t e-file your tax return, you may need to mail a paper return.

Other Steps to Repair Identity Theft

Next, it’s important to limit the potential damage from identity theft.

Visit IdentityTheft.gov for help with these important steps.

Identity Crime Review

2019 was a big year for identity crime, which includes scams, fraud, data breaches, cybercrime, and all other types of crimes that go with it. Tech users are still feeling the aftermath of things like the Facebook/Cambridge Analytica privacy debacle that was uncovered last year, and Congress is still at work on what to do about consumer privacy in the social media age. Also, the fact that phishing attacks had more than doubled in 2018 over the year before had researchers, businesses, lawmakers and consumers alike paying closer attention to the messages they receive.

Fortunately, new legislation came along to make the privacy lives of consumers a little safer. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a game-changing data privacy law, went into effect in Europe in 2018 inflicting strict penalties on businesses that gather and store data but let it fall into the wrong hands. Soon new laws intent on strengthening privacy and consumer choice will be taking effect in California and Colorado. Best of all, the awareness of what constitutes these kinds of crimes and how to recognize them is increasing.

However, this welcome news does not mean that consumers are completely safe or that hackers are finally giving up. With every new platform, tool or technology, there is even greater potential for new avenues of attack. Healthcare providers and insurance companies continued to be one of the hardest-hit targets in 2019, thanks to the overwhelming amount of personally identifiable information (PII) they gather. “Accidental exposure” breaches, which can happen when businesses store huge databases of private information in an online server but fail to password protect them, were a common 2019 identity crime for major-name companies. Even entertainment was not safe, as many apps and online gaming portals suffered data breaches that were traced back to reusing passwords on multiple sites.

2019 did not only see a lot of large data breaches, but also settlements in data breach cases as well.

  • Equifax Settlement: In July, Equifax reached a $700 million settlement for harms caused by their data breach. Equifax agreed to spend $425 million to help victims of the breach, leading to lots of discussion on how to file a claim.
  • Facebook Settlement: While the Equifax settlement was the largest in data breach history at the time, Facebook blew it out of the water just two days later, as they were ordered to pay $5 billion. After the settlement, Facebook said it required a “fundamental shift” in Facebook’s approach at every level of the company in terms of their privacy.
  • Yahoo Settlement: A month and a half later a Yahoo data breach settlement was proposed for $117.5 million after over three billion Yahoo accounts were exposed.

The best way to avoid becoming a victim is an awareness of the threat and some good privacy habits to prevent crimes like the 2019 identity crimes:

Consumers are not responsible for the criminal behaviors of a hacker. However, you can take steps that reduce your risk of becoming a victim and help minimize the damage if the worst does occur.

The Identity Theft Resource Center is a non-profit organization established to empower and guide consumers, victims, businesses and government to minimize risk and mitigate the impact of identity compromise and crime. Call them toll-free at 888-400-5530 or visit them at www.idtheftcenter.org for more information.

Would you rather save $5,000 or lose 5 pounds?

by Gretchen Abraham, Division of Consumer & Business Education

If you picked the money, you’re not alone. As we start 2020, many of us are making financial resolutions. Of course, saving more or paying down debt sounds great, but getting started can feel overwhelming. Don’t worry – the FTC has five ideas for things you can do to start the new year off right.

  1. Make a budget. Before you set new goals or make changes, it’s good to know where you stand. Use this budget worksheet to add up your income for last month and compare it to how much you spent. You might be surprised to see where your dollars are going.
  2. Prioritize your debts. Are debt payments dominating your budget? Make a list of your debts and their annual interest rates. The debts with the highest interest rates are costing you the most – focus on paying those off first.
  3. Start small. Look at your budget for areas to cut back. Try starting with one small change, like inviting friends over instead of going out. Put that money to work right away by setting up automatic transfers with your bank or employer, so money goes straight to your savings account.
  4. Sign up for alerts. Many banks, creditors, and utility companies offer free alerts and reminders when your balances are low or payments are coming due. These services can help you avoid late fees, overdraft charges, or other unexpected costs.
  5. Ask for help. If you’re having a financial emergency, don’t wait until you’ve already missed payments. Call your creditors before the due date, explain the situation, and ask about your options. Many companies will work with you to create a repayment plan.

Need more financial tips? Keep an eye out for the FTC’s upcoming blog series about credit. Get it straight to your inbox at ftc.gov/subscribe.

Federal Trade Commission Reports Top Frauds of 2019

Each year, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) takes a hard look at the number of reports people make to the Consumer Sentinel Network. During 2019, the FTC received more than 3.2 million reports from consumers. Here’s what they found when they examined those reports.

  • Imposter scams was the number one fraud reported to Sentinel in 2019. People reported losing more than $667 million to imposters, who often pretended to be calling from the government or a well-known business, a romantic interest, or a family member with an emergency. When people lost money, they most frequently reported paying scammers with a gift card.
  • Social Security imposters were the top government imposter scam reported. There were 166,190 reports about the Social Security scam, and the median individual loss was $1,500.
  • Phone calls were the number one way people reported being contacted by scammers. While most people said they hung up on those calls, those who lost money reported a median loss of $1,000 in 2019.

Fraud reports filed by consumers allow the FTC and its law enforcement partners to investigate the people and companies that trick people into paying money. These reports help build and bring cases against scammers, which also helps enforce laws that stop scams and other dishonest business practices that take people’s money.

In fact, during 2019, FTC law enforcement actions led to more than $232 million in refunds to people who lost money. More than 1.9 million people cashed checks mailed by the FTC. And, in the last four years, people have cashed more than one billion dollars in FTC refund checks. That’s real money back into people’s pockets.

So if you’ve spotted a scam, keep telling us about it at ftc.gov/complaint. If you need more information about these top frauds, visit ftc.gov/imposters, and ftc.gov/giftcards.

First of its Kind Enforcement Action by the Justice Department

On January 28, 2020, the Department of Justice announced it had filed civil actions for temporary restraining orders in two landmark cases against five companies and three individuals allegedly responsible for carrying hundreds of millions of fraudulent robocalls to American consumers. The Department of Justice alleges that the companies were warned numerous times that they were carrying fraudulent robocalls — including government- and business-imposter calls — and yet continued to carry those calls and facilitate foreign-based fraud schemes targeting Americans. The calls, most of which originated in India, led to massive financial losses to elderly and vulnerable victims across the nation.

The two cases contain similar allegations. The defendants in one case are Ecommerce National LLC d/b/a TollFreeDeals.com; SIP Retail d/b/a sipretail.com; and their owner/operators, Nicholas Palumbo, 38, and Natasha Palumbo, 33, of Scottsdale, Arizona. The defendants in the other case include Global Voicecom Inc., Global Telecommunication Services Inc., KAT Telecom Inc., aka IP Dish, and their owner/operator, Jon Kahen, 45, of Great Neck, New York. In each case, the Department of Justice sought an order immediately halting the defendants’ transmission of unlawful robocall traffic. A federal court has entered a temporary restraining order against the Global Voicecom defendants.

Americans have experienced a deluge of robocalls over the past several years. Many of the robocalls originate abroad. Recently, foreign fraudsters have used robocalls to impersonate government investigators and to provide Americans with alarming messages, such as: the recipient’s social security number or other personal information has been compromised or otherwise connected to criminal activity; the recipient faces imminent arrest; their assets are being frozen; their bank and credit accounts have suspect activity; their benefits are being stopped; they face imminent deportation; or combinations of these threats. Each of these claims is a lie, designed to scare the call recipient into paying large sums of money. Social Security imposters, IRS imposters, and tech-support schemes (in which callers impersonate legitimate technology companies) have proliferated in part because of the ease with which robocalls can reach millions of potential victims every hour.

In these cases, the United States alleges that the defendants operated voice over internet protocol (VoIP) carriers, which use an internet connection rather than traditional copper phone lines to carry telephone calls. Numerous foreign-based criminal organizations are alleged to have used the defendants’ VoIP carrier services to pass fraudulent government- and business-imposter fraud robocalls to American victims. The complaints filed in the cases specifically allege that defendants served as “gateway carriers,” making them the entry point for foreign-initiated calls into the U.S. telecommunications system. The defendants carried astronomical numbers of robocalls. For example, the complaint against the owners/operators of Ecommerce National d/b/a TollFreeDeals.com alleges that the defendants carried 720 million calls during a sample 23-day period, and that more than 425 million of those calls lasted less than one second, indicating that they were robocalls. The complaint further alleges that many of the 720 million calls were fraudulent and used spoofed (i.e., fake) caller ID numbers. The calls facilitated by the defendants falsely threatened victims with a variety of catastrophic government actions, including termination of social security benefits, imminent arrest for alleged tax fraud and deportation for supposed failure to fill out immigration forms correctly.

According to allegations in both complaints, the defendants ignored repeated red flags and warnings about the fraudulent and unlawful nature of the calls they were carrying. The claims made in the complaint are mere allegations that, if the case were to proceed to trial, the government must prove to receive a determination of liability.

The Department of Justice provides a variety of resources relating to elder fraud victimization through its Office for Victims of Crime, which can be reached at https//www.ovc.gov.

Children Often Undercounted in the Census

About one in three of New Year’s resolutions are broken before the end of January. This year, there’s one resolution that every family, community, advocate and leader in Florida must keep: making sure all children are counted in the 2020 Census.

Over two million children were missed being counted in the 2010 Census – more than 71,000 in Florida alone. This undercount hit Florida families hard – over $67 million in funds were lost EACH YEAR for Foster Care, Adoption, Child Care and Children’s Health Insurance Program.

But the undercount also hurt funding for our schools, roads, Medicare, Medicaid, emergency preparedness (i.e. hurricanes) and much more. Since the Census happens only once every 10 years, these funding losses hurt children for most of their childhood.

For more information, visit Learn more: Let’s ensure every child gets counted.