Woman Scams $2.1 Million With Turbo Tax: Anomaly or Systematic Problem?

The IRS sends out certified letters before they come to your house. If you were able to download the checks, they obviously were cashed so I'm not sure how you could claim it's the fault of the USPS.

We get blamed for a lot of problems and it's usually not the case. I do have a lot of people who don't change their addresses or don't update them. I have people who have direct deposit on their social security checks and when they move they never notify SS themselves so when SS sends something out it goes to the old address.

Then we have some really bad offices, I can't speak for them.

Never received any certified letters... Later on, after the armed Treasury agents showed up at my door, I received a letter that was supposed to be addressed to me, but was addressed to a different address on my street (an address that didn't even exist). It was probably 6 months old. I suspect that a lot of it was just the Treasury agents wanting to harass me for making statements suggesting that we go to a strictly consumption based tax system, get rid of the IRS, and make the IRS agents find *honest* jobs. A bunch of vindictive petty bureaucrats...

HAHAHA gotta admit, I hate that darn junkmail, but sure is better then bills! hahaha

I think it's funny when people complain about the junk mail and then when they get no mail at all they call the office and think we're just not delivering their mail. We get less and less everyday. We need to stop Saturday delivery but the unions want all the union dues they can get...they care nothing about US!

I hear you about the dues, I was with a union ONCE and yes, dues were so important, THEN I realized I was paying dues for ppl that were retired! (I was young, what did I know? lol) and...... they need those dues to line the pockets of politicians. I throw my junk mail out or just let it sit in the mailbox lololol. However, I have been hearing news stories that the USPS is trying to stop Saturday deliveries. Truth to that?

There is some kind of bailout for the USPS that apparently Republicans in the House have been voting for but it has some changes to benefits for younger employees and there's all kinds of propaganda out about what those horrible Republicans want to do to us. Even Obama wanted to end Saturday delivery. There is nothing definitive right now but if Republicans get control of Congress there probably will be. I've worked Saturdays for 25 years and I'd love to have a full weekend off. The funny thing is that us older carriers are supposed to care about cutting it out because it will affect the younger carriers but they take all the Saturdays off so we're working them so they can keep a job! That's not helping our compassion!

See, all I heard was that the USPS was BROKE, which I found to be very suspicious. IF they don't close on Saturdays, then by all means, the younger workers should be working Saturdays. I mean, don't you have seniority over that? I would be way past tired of working Saturdays after a couple months, but 25 YEARS! THAT IS INSANE!! What about the part-time carriers? Seems that your work schedule could be. could have been handled much better then it has been. I know..thru rain, ice, wind, and snow..but sheesh...give some Saturdays! :D and again pfffffffft to the youngins....let THEM work on Saturdays! just cuz they wanna go out on Friday nights they think they are special lol

The USPS is beyond broke, kind of like the Federal government but we can't print money. Yes, we work on rotating schedules so we have to work 5 out of 6 Saturdays and we have a Fri-Sat-Sun every six weeks. It's alright but I'd rather have weekends. We have a sub that is the sub for five different routes who does your route on your day off.

At least I live in Florida so no ice or snow, mostly rain!

Pitiful...just pitiful......change, hopefully WILL come in NOv!

LOL

She'll spend a long time behind those bars.

Not if Kitzhaber has anything to do with it....he is an ass hole.

Really now. My wife and I have been using Turbo Tax for years and I don't see how you could make a two million dollar mistake. This lady probably had some help on this "blunder".

She's obviously a lot better with the workings of TurboTax than I am...

She was able to game the system by claiming a 3+ million dollar income, but yet noone investigate OR they just didn't care and pushed it through to spite their employer. Which is stupid haha.

The problem is the tax system itself. To achieve the kind of snooping you'd need to catch frauds like this, is to violate everyone else's freedom and security of the person from unreasonable search and seizure.

Fraud is huge especially among the Obama administration.

SOUNDS LIKE A PROBLEM FOR HER.... AND OREGON.

How did she do that from the kitchen?

Laptop computer, spill-proof keyboard, and wi-fi...

By looking at her you would have never thought . Guess looks are deceiving .

The ever increasing dependance on the computer and the internet is going to prove very costly if a large scale power failure occurrs. Other wise they better be "making the lists and checking them twice" or there will be more. If one can figure it out others can follow.

Fraud happens all the time with tax returns.

Is it really surprising that if someone is willing to lie and cheat that they may, for a time, get away with it? Sorry to burst anyone's bubble, but society is based on trust - trust that people will stop at stop lights, stay on their side of the road, not write checks when they don't have money, etc. In that sense this is a systemic problem. However, the alternative is no society at all.

I bet this will be in their ad campaign next year.

It looks like she ate $150k worth of food.

lol thts not nice

People need to read this with at least a little care, it is NOT a Federal Tax thing, it is Oregon Income tax fraud. State systems are not NEARLY as leak proof as Federal systems.

From news papers

Krystle Marie Reyes, 25, falsely claimed $3 million in income when filing her 2011 return using the program TurboTax, according to an affidavit obtained by The Oregonian. TurboTax then issued Reyes a prepaid Visa (V) debit card with the full seven-figure refund sum after the state approved her claim.

Reyes was only caught after she reported the card lost. The total bill for her post-fraud splurges came to more than $200,000, according to The New York Daily News.

The Oregonian reports that Reyes "apparently was caught on surveillance video using the card to make purchases at a number of Marion county businesses." She is said to have signed her own name for several transactions and given her actual address.

Reyes's fraud was finally uncovered on May 7. She was arrested on Wednesday and charged with computer crime and aggravated theft.

This massive swindle calls attention to a state Department of Revenue that was already perceived as troubled.

When you file an Oregon tax return you also have to include a copy of your federal return.
She probably has a refund from them in her bank account.

She probably forged her Federal IRS tax form copy, adding a string of zeros to the dollar amount, not at all hard to do, with the obvious glitch she exploited, it is only time before others try it.

We either need a flat tax, or even better a fair tax. Either way, there should be no tax shelters, loopholes, vulnerabilities, or any other way to game the system, especially by the very rich. Neither should the tax system be used for redistribution like it is now with Earned Income Credit.

It is a problem, because the tax code is so convoluted and corrupted that nobody - even the IRS - fully understands it... and when a smart cookie uses that convolution and corruption to their benefit :: nobody catches it!

What to stop things like this... SIMPLIFY the code.... flat tax it... everyone pays the same... no dedications... no exemptions... no excuses... No refunds!

Systematic? Anomaly? Who cares? The fact is that she got away with it! You better believe I'm not going to report my prepaid debit card missing.

This is not good. How can they let this happen? it sucks when others ruin it for all of us.

Everyone knows that the IRS doesn't have enough employees to (or software capability, apparently) to check the data associated with all returns. So they do a targeted random sampling. In fact, they should have robust software systems that check every detail of every return and maybe run through a sampling of the flagged returns. It wouldn't be difficult to write the software - have them give me a call if they need help. Alas, the country doesn't seem to have the stomach to employ the number of people the government actually needs to function properly, so it shouldn't be too surprised that this kind of thing happens (and will happen more and more often and more broadly across the various agencies).

The sad reality is that the people of the united states are divided on what kind of government and society we want to have, what kind of services we want, and how best to run the country. Name calling and social issues seem to be more important than a stable and prosperous country/world. Fine, but when something like this happens look in the mirror for the cause.

IRS has 100,000 employees. Their system CAN red flag exceptional returns.

It was NOT IRS, Stupid, it was Oregon income tax fraud.