OCALA, Fla. — WFTV learned that there are people using fake W-2 forms to cheat tax companies out of instant refund checks. It's a bigger problem than initially thought. The IRS is now investigating nine cases in Ocala.
One tax preparer, who did not want to be identified, had a message for the IRS.
"They need to find a way to control who receives blank W-2 forms to be filled out by employers," she said.
The tax preparer said nine customers, who came in a group to Express Tax in Ocala, all had phony W-2 forms. But before the treachery was discovered, she said the business issued one of them an instant refund check for $5,000.
"How do you verify that somebody earned the income and is entitled to a refund?" WFTV reporter Berndt Petersen asked the tax preparer.
"You have no way to verify that," she said.
Managers called Ocala police, who called the Internal Revenue Service. An IRS investigator went to police headquarters to look at the W-2s and the tax forms. He took all of it and told police not to comment, because it's a federal case now.
A woman called WFTV after watching a story about a similar investigation in Lake County. In that case, Clermont police said at least six people brought fake W-2's to an H&R Block office.
Two of them were issued instant refunds. Tax preparers said blank W-2s are available at office supply stores and many small businesses buy them to prepare their employees' federal paperwork.
WFTV's insider said she got wise when the scammers who came to Express Tax said their employer's business was on Main Street in Ocala. There is no Main Street in Ocala.
"I don't want to fight with anybody, but I don't feel like that if I pay taxes somebody else should take my money. And that's what they're doing," she said.
The tax preparer said, although the federal government is investigating the case, the scammers are still calling her office asking why their refund has not arrived yet.
Previous Stories: March 9, 2010: Thieves Use Fake W-2s To Steal Tax Refunds
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