No one is safe: Taxpayer's ID used in fraud

A multi-pronged identity fraud attack on the Australian Taxation Office early this year has led to the establishment of a new team of identity crime busters in the organisation.
The ATO has cautioned social media users that the criminals had perpetrated the scam using data stolen from a taxpayer's online activities.
The ATO client identity unit in Canberra is modelled on a similar outfit in the United States' Internal Revenue Service that was established after the September 2001 attacks on the country.
The new unit will provide support as the ATO expands its online services.
One of the ATO's second commissioners, Geoff Leeper, said the attack had been detected and stopped, and the loss of money was minimal.
"We had to manage something early in the year, around January and February, which was a multi-pronged attempt on the tax revenue system," Mr Leeper said.
"As far as we're concerned it's closed. We identified the vector of attack and we dealt with it and we managed to stop nearly all the money they were trying to get out of us. We didn't get 100 per cent but we got the majority of it once we identified the form of attack.
"All I'll say is that it started with the theft of an identity."
Mr Leeper said the attack showed how identities could be stolen using information that social media users posted online.
"The issue here is that people need to be incredibly cautious with their online identities. What we learned from that particular case was that there appears to be enough around on social media sites these days for it to be possible for someone who is not that careful to make it easier for someone to steal their identity,'' he said.
The six-strong unit, which will be based in the ATO's corporate affairs division in Canberra and operate throughout the country, was established as a direct result of the cyber attack.
"We need to be as light on our feet as the criminals are because they will just sit outside there and just ping different parts of the government system until they find a weak door," Mr Leeper said.
"It might be individual cases of identity theft, or individual identity theft, or it might be much more structured attempts on the tax system.''
Deepti Paton, a counsel with the Tax Institute of Australia, said the establishment of the new unit was a "welcome move".
"Over the past few years there's been an increase, year on year, in identity fraud so certainly it's a very sensible initiative,'' Ms Paton said.
"Because of the high level of cash transactions that go on around lodgment of tax returns, it's quite important to stay ahead of these things rather than wait and see."