The Internal Revenue Service has been cracking down on refund fraud and identity theft through the Security Summit initiative and its Criminal Investigation (CI) work. In fiscal year 2015, CI initiated 776 identity theft investigations, which led to 774 sentencings. Individuals found guilty of this type of crime face significant jail time. The average sentence in FY 2015 was 38 months, while the longest sentence was for more than 27 years.
For information about specific identity theft cases and what the IRS is doing to prevent future fraud, click here: https://www.irs.gov/uac/Newsroom/IRSs-Top-10-Identity-Theft-Prosecutions-Criminal-Investigation-Continues-Efforts-to-Halt-Refund-Fraud
