Federal authorities arrested more than 40 people allegedly associated with a widespread and extremely effective tax fraud group operating in Southern Florida.
The crackdown, which was led by an FBI stirkeforce, broke up a fraud ring that had ripped off millions of dollars worth of tax returns filed in other people's names, according to a report from
The Associated Press. The number of victims who have been affected is quite large, and ranges from police officers and people who have died to Holocaust survivors.
Southern Florida, and the Miami area in particular, seems to be fertile ground for this type of fraud, as the number of cases there on a per capita basis is roughly 46 times the national average, the report said. Arrests related to these cases in that part of the state alone now number 79 this year alone, and the amount ripped off from consumers and the federal government amounts to about $40 million.
Adam Levin, chairman for
Identity Theft 911, has a blog about how identity theft of all types can hurt consumers' credit and finances, as well as what they can do to remediate these problems.
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