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OT: Identity Theft - Lawyers

ScarletDave

ScarletDave

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Oct 7, 2010
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Hi friends, a friend of mine had his identity stolen because his tax accountant uses Intuit and apparently had a breach, 10 people from their group had their returns exposed, and so someone tried to file a tax return in his name - luckily the IRS must have some theft protection deal, because they sent a letter saying to verify it was them.

The accountants office sent out notices to the 10 people, and offered to pay a free 1-year ID theft protection program.

He’s done all the things like call the 3 credit bureaus and set up the ID protection, and opened a new credit card to check and make sure they did the verification, and it worked.

The question, is it worth lawyering up against the tax place? Apparently, there are 3 year and 7 year ID protection programs also, but the place is only paying for 1 year. Also, there is a class action lawsuit that is being done against the accountants office, he got an email from the lawyers.

Anyone with experience with this? Is it worth it to do the class action? Or rather find a good lawyer and do it individually? And any lawyer recommendations if so?

Thanks!
 
ScarletDave said:
Hi friends, a friend of mine had his identity stolen because his tax accountant uses Intuit and apparently had a breach, 10 people from their group had their returns exposed, and so someone tried to file a tax return in his name - luckily the IRS must have some theft protection deal, because they sent a letter saying to verify it was them.

The accountants office sent out notices to the 10 people, and offered to pay a free 1-year ID theft protection program.

He’s done all the things like call the 3 credit bureaus and set up the ID protection, and opened a new credit card to check and make sure they did the verification, and it worked.

The question, is it worth lawyering up against the tax place? Apparently, there are 3 year and 7 year ID protection programs also, but the place is only paying for 1 year. Also, there is a class action lawsuit that is being done against the accountants office, he got an email from the lawyers.

Anyone with experience with this? Is it worth it to do the class action? Or rather find a good lawyer and do it individually? And any lawyer recommendations if so?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Data breaches happen. What are the damages people were caused? I don’t think “inconvenience” is grounds for a lawsuit.
 
Not to derail the thread, but curious as to what bad actors would gain by filing a bogus tax return? Were they looking to divert a fraudulent refund, or simply to change the residency address on record with the IRS and thus Federal Govt. to set in motion future nefarious transactions?
 
ScarletDave said:
Hi friends, a friend of mine had his identity stolen because his tax accountant uses Intuit and apparently had a breach, 10 people from their group had their returns exposed, and so someone tried to file a tax return in his name - luckily the IRS must have some theft protection deal, because they sent a letter saying to verify it was them.

The accountants office sent out notices to the 10 people, and offered to pay a free 1-year ID theft protection program.

He’s done all the things like call the 3 credit bureaus and set up the ID protection, and opened a new credit card to check and make sure they did the verification, and it worked.

The question, is it worth lawyering up against the tax place? Apparently, there are 3 year and 7 year ID protection programs also, but the place is only paying for 1 year. Also, there is a class action lawsuit that is being done against the accountants office, he got an email from the lawyers.

Anyone with experience with this? Is it worth it to do the class action? Or rather find a good lawyer and do it individually? And any lawyer recommendations if so?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

For a breach of Intuit?

Call 1-800-AmbulanceChasers
 
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RW90 said:
Not to derail the thread, but curious as to what bad actors would gain by filing a bogus tax return? Were they looking to divert a fraudulent refund, or simply to change the residency address on record with the IRS and thus Federal Govt. to set in motion future nefarious transactions?
Click to expand...

They claim a refund which may get sent before the fraud is discovered.
 
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I agree with what others have said above about no actual damage outside of inconvenience.

ScarletDave said:
The question, is it worth lawyering up against the tax place? Apparently, there are 3 year and 7 year ID protection programs also, but the place is only paying for 1 year. Also, there is a class action lawsuit that is being done against the accountants office, he got an email from the lawyers.
Click to expand...

All the class action lawsuit is is a money grab. Lawyers live for this because they don't care about who they're "defending", they just see the chance to get a percentage of a huge settlement.

If your friend has any concerns, he should negotiate with the tax accountant to see if they'll cover a longer plan - I would think a 3 year plan would be sufficient.
 
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mdk01 said:
They claim a refund which may get sent before the fraud is discovered.
Click to expand...
So, then my first suspicion. Was thinking there may be more to it, but clearly the IRS is duly diligent for such fraud.

On a similar note, last year my wife's HR department called to ask her why she filed for NJ unemployment insurance? Good times...
 
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RW90 said:
So, then my first suspicion. Was thinking there may be more to it, but clearly the IRS is duly diligent for such fraud.

On a similar note, last year my wife's HR department called to ask her why she filed for NJ unemployment insurance? Good times...
Click to expand...
One hopes that the IRS makes an effort to double-check on address changes that arrive near or with tax returns. I would think that's always a bit of a red flag.
 
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mildone said:
One hopes that the IRS makes an effort to double-check on address changes that arrive near or with tax returns. I would think that's always a bit of a red flag.
Click to expand...
Ok, so to derail the thread in another direction...

I'd be curious to hear of other's experience or opinions of some of the identity monitoring subscriptions. We've had multiple episodes that point to my some aspect of my wife's identity being released on the dark web. Over the past couple of years we've been alerted to fraudulent attempts to claim NJ unemployment insurance and open a federally funded loan grant in her name. It's been on my radar to open such a monitoring subscription, but have since merely just been self-monitoring our account balances and credit reports.
 
RW90 said:
Ok, so to derail the thread in another direction...

I'd be curious to hear of other's experience or opinions of some of the identity monitoring subscriptions. We've had multiple episodes that point to my some aspect of my wife's identity being released on the dark web. Over the past couple of years we've been alerted to fraudulent attempts to claim NJ unemployment insurance and open a federally funded loan grant in her name. It's been on my radar to open such a monitoring subscription, but have since merely just been self-monitoring our account balances and credit reports.
Click to expand...
I have no experience with them, but perhaps others here do.

My daughter was recently a victim of a scam involving what turned out to be a fake short-term apartment rental while doing her Physical Therapy clinical for her PhD program. She's out $500, which isn't much. It was cheap for what could've been a far more harsh learning experience.

So she's going to be availing herself of some ID monitoring, I believe. But she'll just be getting started, so she'd have no opinions to share just yet. Like all my kids, she's very independent so she's handling it all herself.

Meanwhile, I've mostly tracked down the scammer. This person has been running real-estate scams, and also some GoFundMe scams, for years. Appears to have come close to being caught at least once that I can determine, but slipped away.

Haven't decided yet what I'm going to do. My kid would not be pleased with me doing anything.
 
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Knight Shift said:
As an aside, to the extent damage was suffered, some insurance (not sure about homeowner, more likely business) policies may have coverage for data breach/theft.
Click to expand...
I also would expect that most accounting firms (assuming they’re not one man/woman shops) buy a Cyber insurance policy.

But that said, I agree with others here. If there are no real damages suffered other than short term inconvenience, this is just a ‘move along’ situation.
 
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All of our identity information has already been stolen. It is not if they have our information it is if they will ever use it.
 
As for sueing, just being inconvenienced shouldn't be a reason, but if breach caused friend to have to go through major hassles to protect his finances and personal info, then compensation might be in order.
 
MADHAT1 said:
As for sueing, just being inconvenienced shouldn't be a reason, but if breach caused friend to have to go through major hassles to protect his finances and personal info, then compensation might be in order.
Click to expand...

Gut says he’ll end up spending 10 hours to get reimbursed for the 4 hours he spent on this. Seems like a waste of time.

Also, they probably have to prove some form of negligence which is unlikely.
 
Wait- so, this breach caused his identity to be stolen which in this case, everything. And some of you are poopoo-ing it?
Bullshit.
And my company provides the tax accountants for intuit, TurboTax and Quickbooks.

Company asks for your trust, you pay for it and they are breached. Having your identity stolen is a huge deal and even bigger for an organization like intuit.

I say to see if there is already a class action a d f-them, if not, find a class action attorney and inquire about it.

Identity is the most important thing you own.
 
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MADHAT1 said:
As for sueing, just being inconvenienced shouldn't be a reason, but if breach caused friend to have to go through major hassles to protect his finances and personal info, then compensation might be in order.
Click to expand...
"Suing".

Which, incidentally, I thought might cause my bad joke about the OSU player (Sueing) and litigation (in another thread) to be a total bust. But it seems it still amused some people at least a little bit.

It's weird how spoken humor can still sometimes work when written instead, although it kinda sorta shouldn't.
 
mildone said:
"Suing".

Which, incidentally, I thought might cause my bad joke about the OSU player (Sueing) and litigation (in another thread) to be a total bust. But it seems it still amused some people at least a little bit.

It's weird how spoken humor can still sometimes work when written instead, although it kinda sorta shouldn't.
Click to expand...

My lawyers ( located in Sheepshead Bay) will be contacting you and not about
finding out where the hookers and blow are but about you being Sooied for herassment🙃
 
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mildone said:
I have no experience with them, but perhaps others here do.

My daughter was recently a victim of a scam involving what turned out to be a fake short-term apartment rental while doing her Physical Therapy clinical for her PhD program. She's out $500, which isn't much. It was cheap for what could've been a far more harsh learning experience.

So she's going to be availing herself of some ID monitoring, I believe. But she'll just be getting started, so she'd have no opinions to share just yet. Like all my kids, she's very independent so she's handling it all herself.

Meanwhile, I've mostly tracked down the scammer. This person has been running real-estate scams, and also some GoFundMe scams, for years. Appears to have come close to being caught at least once that I can determine, but slipped away.

Haven't decided yet what I'm going to do. My kid would not be pleased with me doing anything.
Click to expand...

This presents a terrific opportunity.
 
yesrutgers01 said:
Wait- so, this breach caused his identity to be stolen which in this case, everything. And some of you are poopoo-ing it?
Bullshit.
And my company provides the tax accountants for intuit, TurboTax and Quickbooks.

Company asks for your trust, you pay for it and they are breached. Having your identity stolen is a huge deal and even bigger for an organization like intuit.

I say to see if there is already a class action a d f-them, if not, find a class action attorney and inquire about it.

Identity is the most important thing you own.
Click to expand...

He's talking about suing the tax accountant using Intuit, not Intuit itself.
 
mildone said:
Yes. Time's on my side here. No need to decide quickly.
Click to expand...
but for others not quick enough , if tha criminal is still scamming others like he/she did your daughter.
Anonymous tip to police, giving details but not daughters name ???
 
What was the scam that caused your daughter to give up $500? It's best to share so someone else doesn't get played into the same thing.
 
MADHAT1 said:
but for others not quick enough , if tha criminal is still scamming others like he/she did your daughter.
Anonymous tip to police, giving details but not daughters name ???
Click to expand...
I understand the point. But there are some complications that I cannot get into.
 
Zak57 said:
What was the scam that caused your daughter to give up $500? It's best to share so someone else doesn't get played into the same thing.
Click to expand...
As I mentioned, I can't get into specifics.

What I can say is that this scam involved the use of one of the many online rental businesses. The rental business in question was not the problem and had, in fact, been recommended by some of my daughter's friends who've used it without problems.

The scam can been avoided by doing two things:

(1) Never rely solely upon any online rental business. Always do one's own verification of both the rental property and the landlord.

(2) Always insist upon using a credit-card for sending money to the landlord (i.e. avoid wiring or using money-sending apps). If the landlord insists upon cash, find someone else. This means missing out on lots of perfectly legit, often less expensive rentals. But it makes it far harder on scammers and protects the consumer's money.

A warning to that effect is published on the online rental companies website. But due to the scammer's clearly well-practiced sophistication of approach, combined with recommendations from her friends, my kid overlooked it and got burned. Lesson learned.

I'd hope most adults already know this stuff. But for those with college age kids, especially those who tend to want to handle all such stuff on their own, it wouldn't hurt to remind them about it.
 
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mildone said:
I have no experience with them, but perhaps others here do.

My daughter was recently a victim of a scam involving what turned out to be a fake short-term apartment rental while doing her Physical Therapy clinical for her PhD program. She's out $500, which isn't much. It was cheap for what could've been a far more harsh learning experience.

So she's going to be availing herself of some ID monitoring, I believe. But she'll just be getting started, so she'd have no opinions to share just yet. Like all my kids, she's very independent so she's handling it all herself.

Meanwhile, I've mostly tracked down the scammer. This person has been running real-estate scams, and also some GoFundMe scams, for years. Appears to have come close to being caught at least once that I can determine, but slipped away.

Haven't decided yet what I'm going to do. My kid would not be pleased with me doing anything.
Click to expand...
Here's what you gotta do
Pick up the phone, I'm always home
Call me anytime
Just ring, 3-6-2-4-3-6, hey
I lead a life of crime
 
Why are so many people so quick to just say not sue? When a company F ups your personal information that can affect you in a major way, it is not a frivolous lawsuits- it is also a part of their business and business risk.
Some on here just talk bullshit all the time.
Why is it different then someone running their car into you?
 
yesrutgers01 said:
Wait- so, this breach caused his identity to be stolen which in this case, everything. And some of you are poopoo-ing it?
Bullshit.
And my company provides the tax accountants for intuit, TurboTax and Quickbooks.

Company asks for your trust, you pay for it and they are breached. Having your identity stolen is a huge deal and even bigger for an organization like intuit.

I say to see if there is already a class action a d f-them, if not, find a class action attorney and inquire about it.

Identity is the most important thing you own.
Click to expand...
Agree. The unethical scumbags have everything they need to commit fraud using the victim's identity, and to sell the stolen information to many other scumbags who may try to do the same at some point in the future. Close credit monitoring is required for much longer than just a year, and the harmful effect on the victim's peace of mind may be immeasurable. And if identity theft occurs after the data breach, it can be difficult and a real headache for the victim to try to undo all of the damaging and harmful effects.
 
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yesrutgers01 said:
Why are so many people so quick to just say not sue? When a company F ups your personal information that can affect you in a major way, it is not a frivolous lawsuits- it is also a part of their business and business risk.
Some on here just talk bullshit all the time.
Why is it different then someone running their car into you?
Click to expand...
I do agree that many are downplaying it a bit, but at same time, I have to think it's a more difficult lawsuit because you haven't really suffered material damages (I.e., it's the risk or threat of damages no).

Plus who do you sue? Intuit or the small CPA?

Plus do accountants really get paid just to use Turbo Tax? I feel like I could make a few bucks this way.
 
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