YUMA, Ariz. – The Internal Revenue Service says it has stopped more than 19 million suspicious tax filings according to their latest statics.
The government agency also says, more than $63 million in fraudulent tax returns have been filed. Some residents in Yuma say they are protecting themselves from identity theft.
Gary Wistrom of Yuma says, “I just don’t give out certain information. If they want it and I don’t feel like it’s their business they don’t get it.”
Carol Weigum of Yuma says, “Well I have a wallet that has the shield in it, and it says that it does that, so I assume that it does and my papers I shred.”
Janet Torricellas of Better Business Bureau Yuma says those residents are right on track.
Torricellas says, “Identity theft can be taken from our computer, through our mail, through our inboxes and email there is many ways that they can take our identity.”
The BBB also offers suggestions when shopping online, like making sure to pay attention to the search engine.
Torricellas adds, “It’s very important to make sure that you are visiting the appropriate website make sure that you look at every name that is on the URL and make sure there is no misspelled letter or words.”
The last tip is to always be protective of unknown callers.
“Any personal information that you are providing to them from that point on will be safe and secure, and that they will not be selling it to any third party you have to make sure that every website that you visit you have to make sure they have privacy policy,” said Torricellas.