Although Halloween and all things spooky are supposedly gone, there is a scary item that remains all year round. This item is identity theft and today, I would like to talk about what to do to avoid becoming a victim of tax related identity theft.

In the interest of protecting as many people as possible from the ill effects of these "charlatans", to be polite, we will share one our contacts with you and how you should respond if you are faced with the same challenge.

A disabled individual received a letter from Diverse Resources Business and Tax Firms, a firm based out of Union City, Georgia. This letter stated that the IRS was giving a stimulus refund of $600 and that the only information needed from the taxpayer was a copy of her state ID and Social Security card.

Now I know a lot of you out there are wondering whether or not she took advantage of this offer, being that she was being solicited through the mail by a company she knew nothing about, especially when the company is soliciting a copy of her the Social Security card and picture ID; all the information anyone would need to assume her identity.

She did take advantage of the offer and received a $600 check in the mail, as promised. However, the check did not come from the Internal Revenue Service, but from Wells Fargo

Unfortunately, the disabled lady that took advantage of this offer did not think about the long-term ramifications of her decision to send a copy of her state ID and Social Security number to an unknown firm that would have access to her name, state ID number, address, and Social Security number. She would have no control over who uses it or how it is used. When informed of this, she simply shrugged and stated that her credit was bad anyway.

Unfortunately, the poor lady missed the point that her friend tried to point out. Hopefully, you who are listening today will not. The best outcome would be her receiving a $600 check without additional incident. Worse would be any of the following:

As a recipient of government disability benefits, if her name and social security appear on an income tax return indicating that she is employed or self employed or if someone starts working under her Social Security number, her benefits will be cut or eliminated.

In addition, she will receive bills from the IRS and the state for unpaid taxes. She would then be left to explain the circumstances of how she applied for a tax refund without first inquiring as to the qualifications for receipt.

Her name and social security number could appear on a tax return as a dependent. If she receives public assistance, she could lose benefits received as a result since one cannot expect to be supported by the state and another individual. In some cases, the state may require that benefits previously received be repaid.

Other than the tax ramifications of your name and social security number being exposed to others, your name and social security can be used to obtain items on credit, if not credit itself.

Lastly, is it is not beneath the dignity of some to assume your identity altogether, especially in other states, leaving you open to judgments, lawsuits, outstanding tickets, warrants, and the like for activities that you did not commit and for which the real perpetrator may never be found.

If you get a correspondence purporting to be from the IRS, especially if it asks for social security numbers and picture identification, make sure that you make contact with the requester to verify that it is a legitimate request. In a word, "check it out before your send it out".