Why is Identity Theft Rising?

Last updated on February 18, 2022

Identity theft is rising when it should be decreasing. The IRS and various law enforcement agencies claim to bust tax scams every year, but judging from the rising figures of tax theft, there still is more to be done.

The ease of the crime, the distance between the victim and the criminal, and the essentially non-violent nature of the identity theft, has made the idea of easy money attractive to many.

Stealing wallets, I.D. phishing, dumpster diving are just a few of the ways scammers use to gain access to tax information during tax season.

Identity theft has topped the IRS’ Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for years. In Florida, identity theft has reached epidemic heights. Tax thieves are exploiting both online and offline sources to gather tax information=. Last year, the South Carolina Department of Revenue found its 3.8 million unencrypted tax records were hacked. They could not find the hacker nor were they able to determine the motive of the theft.

Due to I.D. phishing and online tax return filing, it has become more difficult to track tax fraud criminals, or determine the extent of the crime. Identity theft, which is now growing into a violent crime where taxpayers are being hurt by tax thieves to gain access to their tax information, can only be curbed if it is considered a priority by the IRS and the U.S. government.