As any cop will tell you, there’s no such thing as a routine traffic stop. You always have to be prepared for surprises, and a simple traffic stop in New Jersey might have thwarted a heartless scam focused on the identities of young cancer victims and their parents.

When cops in New Jersey pulled over a white Infiniti for some unnamed traffic violation, they ran the license plate and quickly found it had been purchased in the name of a victim of identity theft.

It might have been an open and shut case, but the investigation quickly escalated as law enforcement took a closer look at the driver and his accomplice. Turns out the driver had, allegedly, a very good understanding of the tax system, while his accomplice worked in the medical field and had access to patient records.

Apparently the two conspired to join forces and pool their knowledge to file more than 100 bogus tax returns in the names of patients whose medical records had been pilfered. As if that wasn’t heartless enough, in their scam they included as dependents the children of these victims, some of whom were fighting cancer.

By the time they were caught they had already bilked the IRS out of more than $200,000, and the ringleader had some portable data drives in his possession containing the personal information of more than 300 victims.

Lessons learned?

• There are no depths that thieves will sink to in order to make money from your identity.
• Your kids are just as vulnerable as you are. Some would say more vulnerable, because unlike you, they can’t protect themselves.
• File your taxes as early as you can, and do it online (including getting your refund) to eliminate the risk of your mail being intercepted.

RELATED STORY: N.Y. man is charged with stealing identities from pediatric cancer centers, hospitals

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/08/ny_man_is_charged_with_stealin.html

Related posts:

1. Making Gains in Fighting ID Theft