Meredith Ley of WSAV reports that 23 people, mostly from Georgia, are facing charges in connection with ID theft and tax refund fraud scheme.
Authorities with the FBI, Statesboro Police and the IRS believe those involved took names, birthdays, and social security numbers from medical records and used them to submit phony tax returns.
U.S. Attorney for Georgia’s Southern District, Ed Tarver, informed Ley that the information was stolen from doctor’s offices, and that the three ringleaders all had friends or relatives working from the inside.
The doctor’s offices were not named, however, and there is no statement as to whether the patients whose information was stolen have been notified by anyone. I imagine some already figured out that their data were stolen when they tried to file their taxes and found out that returns had already been filed, but once again: (1) we have not been told the names of the breached doctors’ practices, and (2) we do not know for how long affected individuals have gone without notice.