The problem with the breach is that all that info is now available to the scammers. Your DL number, dob, address, all of what is needed to create a fake ID. Sure it requires work, but those unemployed Eastern European dudes have nothing better to do…
The IRS probably can’t do a lot of real-time checking because they don’t have the infrastructure for it. Their systems are decades old in some cases, very batch-oriented, and they aren’t given the budget to modernize. And it’s not an easy problem. It’s easy to say “do something when the number of dependents change to prove it’s legit” or “no refund if the w2 doesn’t match what the company sends”, but then you will be delaying millions of returns, and this makes people very unhappy. And there are laws that govern what they can do - even if the computer flags something, they may not be legally allowed to hold up a refund without an agent looking at it, and they don’t have the manpower.
The IRS is currently waaay behind in cross-checking some of this stuff. The statue of limitations for the IRS to challenge something on a return is 3 years, and they run right up to that time frame regularly.
Requiring a known checking account is problematic for several reasons - 1) there are millions of people who don’t have checking/savings accounts, and can’t/won’t get them because of fees or minimums or location or whatever; 2) people change banks all the time and open new accounts; and 3) the IRS has no way to check the ownership of accounts you are direct-depositing into, because the ACH number used on your check does not match the account number on a 1099-INT (if the account even generated a 1099).
I wish they would expand the PIN program, I would sign up in a heartbeat. But to expand it to everyone requires collecting and verifying information on a couple hundred million people. It’s not an easy problem given their constraints.
93% of households have a bank account. There are now a lot of banks and credit unions that offer free checking with no minimum balance. There’s no reason everyone couldn’t get a checking or savings account.
This is just not true.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/12/pf/fdic-bank-accounts/index.html
This is 10s of millions of people.
There are many areas where there is no access to physical branches of banks or credit unions anywhere nearby. Not everyone can do everything on the internet.
And even if everyone could get an account, it doesn’t solve the problem of how to verify ownership, because the IRS doesn’t have the info needed.
Several years ago organized crime turned to jumping the gun on IRS refunds when the IRS added the option of getting your refund on a debit card. The feds were trying to help low income tax payers keep all of their money and not lose some to a check cashing operation if they didn’t have a bank account. The thieves quickly figured out how to take advantage of that system.
As an add-on to what @CIEE83 said, I found out that you can not create an on-line social security account if you have placed a security freeze or fraud alert on your credit account:
This is from the social security administration web-site:
“You cannot create a my Social Security account online if you have a security freeze, fraud alert, or both on your credit report. You first must ask the credit bureau to remove the freeze or alert. To create a my Social Security account in person without removing the security freeze or fraud alert, visit your local Social Security office.”
Though I would call your local SSA office first and double check what identification or documentation you would need to bring with you. Also, it says on the SSA web-site that one has to be 18 in order to create an on-line account. So, I have no idea how one would create an account for a minor.
@coralbrook - let your D know about Cap One no-fee checking - ATMS all over the country with no fee, debit card, online banking, no minimum deposit, free overdraft protection if she wants that - pretty cool for college students especially. https://www.capitalone.com/checking-accounts/online-checking-account/
@roethlisburger From Cap One:
They say they “confirm your identity” but honestly if they have everything from Equifax, they have everything they need: https://www.capitalone.com/terms-personal-data/
True. One hopes they at least do this.
And they would get that information from a centralized source named… Equifax!
Andddddddddd it gets better!
Equifax sent people to the WRONG site. They were sent to a fake site.
Correct link: www.equifaxsecurity2017.com/
Fake site: www.securityequifax2017.com
Guess which one Equifax tweeted out yesterday??
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/20/business/equifax-fake-website.html?mcubz=0
Oh no!
I’ve been checking my inbox and junk folder and no confirmation email has arrived. Getting worried.
@MACmiracle try starting to type each link in the URL bar and see which one autofinishes. It’s how you can tell which one you’ve gone to.
Or you can check your history, but this is faster.
@romanigypsyeyes , I did it last week, maybe before the fake site was put up.
And the article you liked says it was obviously a fake. The site I was on did not have the same comments. I’m glad I did the alert through Experian. It’s something at least.
Luckily the fake was put up by someone concerned about their security. But he has an excellent point - why on earth did they do equifaxsecurity2017.com rather than security.equifax.com?
Added more alerts on last accounts today. I feel like this has forced me to become more vigilant which is probably good.
For the first time I was introduced to a voice recognition security system.
God bless those reps who were so patient with all my questions. :-@
My sister is recently widowed and her financial advisor has her signing up for LifeLock. I tried to talk her into just freezing her credit, but she feels that with LifeLock if someone should steal her identity they will clean it up for her as her membership comes with insurance for this. Ugh :-/
I think that for older & less internet-savvy individuals, there is a value in having a service like LifeLock, as well as the insurance that comes with it. Older individuals are probably at greater risk for ID theft or other account compromises, and that might be especially true of someone with a recently deceased spouse.
I see LifeLock as a way to outsource the whole monitoring issue whether someone is internet savvy or not. The time spent protecting oneself is worth something.
Well,at this point the insurance and the assistance after identity theft is worth a lot. There are several different companies that offer these services, and I really don’t have a clue which might be the best value.
For those who are thinking about using Lifelock, you might want to think twice:
http://www.latimes.com/business/hiltzik/la-fi-hiltzik-lifelock-equifax-20170918-story.html