VIDEO: Common Fraud In Mississippi

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI)- Approximately, 15-million U-S residents have their identities used fraudulently each year with financial losses as much as 50 billion dollars.

“Mississippi ranks in the top two or three per-capita in the united states for this type of fraud, it’s refund fraud,” says retired IRS agent Phil Hull.

Our social security numbers are one of the most delicate pieces of information we have.

Unfortunately, millions of people are affected every year from identity thieves.

So how does it happen?

“Medical offices, hospitals, insiders getting these socials and selling to the tax return preparers, the ID theft thieves, so you gotta try and protect those socials to the extent you can,” says Hull.

Phil Hull is a retired IRS agent, he’s seen firsthand people being directly affected by identity theft and investment fraud. Which are the two most common frauds in Mississippi.

He says that once your security number is obtained, the thieves goal is to submit your tax return before you do.

“The thieves will try to bomb the system early on in the filing season and beat the legitimate tax payer to filing, to try and the refund,” says Hull.

And sometimes it’s just too late.

“Just having worked a lot of cases, that’s sensitive to me, seeing people lose their life savings to these fraudsters, ponsi schemes, things like that, like a made off case, and sometimes later in life it’s too late to be able to make it up,” says Hull.

Hull warns people that you can be as careful as you can and still fall victim.

“You got these thieves now, think about it, this is their full time job, working all day every day to try and get socials and on dead people too. There’s a lot of smart people out there but there’s a lot of smart thieves too,” says Hull.

If you think you have fallen victim to investment fraud or identity theft contact the IRS immediately and they will assist you in every way possible.