It's Tax Identity Theft Awareness Week!

Most of the time, when you think of identity theft, you probably imagine someone stealing

a credit card and racking up thousands of dollars in random purchases. But tax identity

theft exists too — and it’s more common than you may think. Tax identity theft occurs

when someone uses your social security number to get a tax refund or a job, and you often

don’t find out until you get a letter from the IRS informing you that you have more than one

tax return filed or your return shows income from a job you never held.

Since there are serious consequences of this kind of identity theft, the Federal Trade

Commission partners with a number of organizations to hold a series of webinars and

Twitter chats as a part of Tax Identity Theft Awareness Week. Here’s the schedule so

you can join in on the sessions.

Tuesday

2:30 p.m. EST: The FTC and several partners will be hosting a webinar on tax identity theft

and IRS imposter scams that will explain how these scams happen, how to avoid being a

victim of them, and how to recover from one.

Wednesday

11:00 a.m. EST: The FTC and the Department of Veterans Affairs are hosting a

Twitter Chat for service members, veterans, and their families about reducing the risk of

having your tax identity stolen and what to do if you’re a victim. You can keep up and join

the conversation at #VeteranIDTheft.

1:00 p.m. EST: This is a closed webinar for Veterans Administration employees, contractors,

and patients about lowering your risk of becoming a victim of tax identity theft.

Thursday

1:00 p.m. EST: The FTC and IRS are hosting a webinar for small businesses about imposter

tax scams that target businesses, methods to improve your business’ cyber security, how to

respond to data breaches, and free resources for businesses, employees, and customers.

3:00 p.m. EST: The FTC and Identity Theft Resource Center are co-hosting a Twitter chat

about protecting yourself from tax identity theft, the warning signs to watch for, and how to

handle being in that situation.

American Investment Planners, LLC offers professional financial planning services to

individuals and families across the country. Whether you need help filing your taxes or

deciding how to spend your rebate, our financial advisors are here to help. To schedule

an appointment with one of our consultants, please call (516) 932-5130 or email info@americaninvestmentplanners.com.