It's Hard Out There . . . For A Dog

How hard? It's so hard that dogs in Michigan can get approved for unemployment insurance payments.

The Detroit Free Press: Michigan man's dog approved for unemployment

In short, someone other than the owner of the dog used the dog's name to file a false claim for unemployment insurance payments . . . and it was approved! The dog was to be paid $360 a week, which would keep it in puppy chow until he stopped chasing his tail and found more gainful employment.

Luckily, the owner saw the notice and contacted the Unemployment Insurance Agency about the claim and it was stopped. It will be interesting to see where the criminals were trying to divert the payment.

Identity theft is rather rampant, and Michigan and other states and the feds are falling behind in a race against quite a number of criminals falsely using other peoples, and now even canine's identities to collect fraudulent payments.

Part of the problem is the UIA mails out debit cards with the funds which a criminal can easily divert. Just as the IRS stupidly issues debit cards rather than checks made out in the name of the taxpayer or direct deposit only to the named taxpayer's bank account, it facilitates this sort of fraud.

Until there's a severe crackdown and very harsh penalties for identity theft, not to mention a real effort to trace and apprehend the criminals and the ending of the practice of sending debit cards out as a form of payment, these crimes will continue.

One Would Think That Would Be Important To Know . . .

The Wall Street Journal: Equifax CEO to Congress: Not Sure We Are Encrypting Data

"Not sure" is possibly dissimulation for "No, we're not encrypting data", or "Don't tell the boss we're not encrypting data".

After one of the largest and most publicized data breaches in history, for Equifax not to be 100% positive that all pertinent consumer data in their possession is encrypted as an additional line of defense should be considered nothing short of a criminal failure.

Well This Is Going To Be Just Great Part 2

Well it turns out the scum who falsely filed a Federal tax return in our names have also filed a false Michigan State tax return as well.

We've sent in the appropriate fraud affidavits, flagged our credit etc.

But, to date no one at IRS or Michigan State Treasury has contacted us regarding this, nor can we get through to a live human to make sure this is being dealt with. Still no assistance on how to file valid returns to make sure they are accepted, but I've at least found out the returns will need to be on paper with all sorts of additional hassles.

Apparently this fraud is becoming even easier because you can now get the option that instead of a traditional refund check or direct deposit to a bank account, the IRS can send out a Visa Card loaded with the refund money.

Can you say thanks for enabling fraudsters?

Not amused at all.

Well This is Going To Be Just Great

Just got a letter in the mail today from the Internal Revenue Service that they are quality checking our 2014 tax return.

There's a major problem with this:

We have not yet filed our 2014 tax return.

Indeed, we can't file it yet as we're still waiting on some forms to arrive.

So I'm now busy filling out IRS fraud affidavit forms, but the IRS letter lacks a fax number to send them quickly and instead they need to be mailed. This is very stupid in this day and age, especially as speed is important to catch people filing false returns. So I'm sure I'll be on hold on Monday for hours as I try to get through to them to let them know that identity theft has occurred here and try to receive a fax number where I can send the forms in to speed this up.