Dear Sir/Madam,
I E-filed my 2019 Federal income taxes on Saturday, March 21, 2020 and requested that my refund be deposited in my savings account. On the following Monday, March 23, the amount in that same savings account was reduced by $2000.00; twenty, $100-dollar, unauthorized withdrawals. Fortunately, the bank was able to reverse these withdrawals.
The bank is treating this incident as “Identity Theft”, and I have to do some protective things to prevent recurrence. However, as these fraudulent withdrawals from my account, and the E-Filing of my taxes, occurred within the same time frame, I am not convinced that it is Identity Theft. Could the electronic transmission of my tax data have been Intercepted and used to make these withdrawals from my savings account? How save is E-Filing?
I have been E-filing my taxes via TurboTax for fifteen years without a problem, and know that your literature says: “E-Filing is safer than the mail”. But this incident has triggered some apprehension for me. Have you had any incidents of electronically filed tax data being intercepted? Would appreciate your comments.
