Helping Undocumented Immigrants and Understanding the Causes of Identity Theft

Up until recently, identity theft was as popular as it was pervasive. And notwithstanding a small smattering of high profile cases, identity thieves went largely unpunished. 

But what exactly is identity theft? In a nutshell, identity theft occurs when one person intentionally misappropriates another person’s name and Social Security number to commit fraud and crime. 

Since I am a Federal Tax Practitioner I will discuss the two types of identity thieves that our Office most frequently encounters. The first identity thief steals someone’s name and Social Security number so she can file a phony tax return and pocket a refund. This particular crime is commonly referred to as “refund theft”. The second identity thief a/k/a (criminal "Number Two") commits what is colloquially called “employment theft”.  The perpetrators, who are usually in the country illegally, steal someone’s Social Security number, or alternatively, knowingly purchase a  stolen Social Security number ostensibly so they can work. 

"Employment theft casts a long shadow and causes its victims considerably more inconvenience". 

Unfortunately, a goodly percentage of these so-called "Employment Thieves" are also common criminals who aggressively leverage their purloined identities to obtain entitlements, benefits and merchandise that they’re not entitled to. The costs associated with “employment theft” exceed One Hundred Billion Dollars a year. 

And that’s all there is to understanding identity theft. Nothing fancy, nothing elaborate, just a parasitic self-serving crime committed by a cold-blooded coterie of parasitic self-serving criminals. 

In 2011 David Selig publicly exposed the astronomical amount of earned income fraud that illegal immigrants were committing under IRC Section 152. Believing that “sunlight is the best disinfectant” Selig lobbying for change, made over 100 television appearances between 2011 and 2016. In December 2017 President Trump successfully addressed and curtailed these abuses by implementing the "Tax Cuts and Jobs Act" which was signed into law on 22 December 2017.