More and more often, personal data gets hacked, exposed, etc. Some of you remember the Equifax data breach with 147 million people impacted and a settlement of up to $425 million dollars and there have been many other cases since then. The most recent one is the National Public Data that exposed 3 billion individuals (this number might be overstated) and it would be in line with the breach of Yahoo back in 2013.
If your information was exposed, then, monitor your credit reports and get the IRS identity protection PIN to avoid anyone filing tax returns on your behalf (we have seen fraudulent tax filings claiming dependents and/or refunds that are sent to third parties bank accounts and then, the injured taxpayer has to fix those issues in a extremely complex and time consuming process).
Link ZDnet – Was your Social Security number leaked to the dark web? Use this tool to find out
Link Bloomberg – Personal Data of 3 Billion People Stolen in Hack, Suit Says (1)
We are firm advocates for the IRS Identity Protection PIN as a protection method against fraud, hacked data, etc. If you are already a fervid reader of our blog, you might already be familiar with some of our posts earlier this year on the IRS PIN:
July 2024 – Around 22 months delay to resolve identity theft – Consider the IRS Identity Protection PIN
January 2024 – All taxpayers are now eligible for identity protection PINs
