Paul Pinkham reports:
Personal identities gleaned from two state agencies dealing with children were used to obtain $2.7 million in fraudulent income tax returns in a conspiracy masterminded by an Orange Park man, a federal agent testified.
Bryan A. Copeland and a half-dozen co-conspirators filed 880 bogus tax returns from 2006 to 2009 using counterfeit W-2 forms, the agent said in a court declaration.
Many of the names and identifications were stolen from people who had regular contact with the Florida Department of Children and Families or Department of Juvenile Justice, according to the document.
Though short on details, the declaration says Copeland or the co-conspirators gained access through other people to the agencies’ databases and used names and Social Security numbers, including those of children, to file the bogus returns. They had the refunds either mailed to Jacksonville addresses or deposited into bank accounts controlled by Copeland, 31.
Read more in the Florida Times-Union.
It would be helpful to know more precisely how they gained access to the databases. Were the “other people” employees who knowingly allowed the access, or were the “other people” employees who had their login info compromised by malware, or…..?