IRS Paid Thieves $4 Billion

Identity thieves continue to get the best of the Internal Revenue Service, despite its efforts to crack down on fraud. Just last year, the IRS issued $4 billion in tax refunds to people using stolen identities all over the country and the world. A single address in Lithuania received 655 tax refunds from the IRS. Another one in Shanghai raked in 343. Identity thieves in Atlanta, Chicago, Detroit, and Houston also managed to score fraudulent returns, using stolen Social Security numbers from young, old, and dead people—anyone who doesn’t have to file a return—but the American city with the most con artists was Miami.