A woman in California was charged on Thursday for filing false claims against the U.S. with a possible penalty of up to 15 years in prison. The accused admitted to Internal Revenue Service agents that she filed and submitted more than 200 fraudulent tax returns equalling more than $1 million in tax refunds, under the stolen identities of dead persons. The government paid almost $604,000.
The IRS uncovered the scheme when they noticed that numerous returns requested that the refunds be deposited in a small number of bank accounts belonging to Uzeegoa Makeba Sayles and a family member. They further discovered that the persons supposedly filing the returns were deceased. Agents claim they identified Sayles’ fingerprints on many of the false returns. Sayles’ initial court appearance is set for May 3, 2007.
Source: http://www.pe.com/ap_news/California/CA_BRF_SoCal_Tax_Scam_283189C.shtml
