Reuters
A Louisiana man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after going to great lengths to attempt to obtain President Donald Trump’s tax returns.
Jordan Hamlett, 32, pleaded guilty to using the Internal Revenue Service’s Data Retrieval Tool — a digital service that transfers tax return information into the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (“FAFSA”) — in an attempt to obtain the president’s federal tax information on six separate occasions, the U.S. Department of Justice said Wednesday. He has been ordered to pay $14,794.96 in restitution to the U.S. Department of Education and a $100 special assessment, in addition to the 18-month prison sentence.
“This sentence underscores the seriousness with which the U.S. government takes the unauthorized access of its protected computer systems and the misuse of personally identifiable information,” said Robert Mancuso, a special agent in the unit that works to protect U.S. Department of Education programs at the Department of Education’s Office of Inspector General.
Hamlett is a private investigator who attempted to access Trump’s tax returns in the months leading up to the 2016 elections. Trump made the controversial decision not to release his tax returns, which is not legally required but became customary after every presidential nominee since 1976 did so.
This is a high-profile example, but using the FAFSA student aid form to commit fraud is not uncommon. Often victims do not discover they have been targeted until they apply for federal student aid and find somebody else has already applied using their identity.
The IRS and the Department of Education temporarily took down the online federal aid application tool in 2017 due to concerns about identity theft, but reinstated it after affordable college advocates said it would create a major barrier to applying for student aid.
Chris Morales of cybersecurity company Vectra said this particular case was not very sophisticated, but consumers should be concerned about other IRS-related scams. After a series of major hacks, including Equifax the Social Security numbers of many U.S. adults could be exposed online, making it easier to execute these scams, he said. The Federal Trade Commission warned taxpayers this year that the Equifax hack made them particularly vulnerable to identity theft.
“This is an area where a consumer does not have direct control over that data so they need to be vigilant of their credit records and access to personal accounts,” he said.
Here’s how to minimize risks:
• Never reply to a suspicious email or open an unknown attachment — the IRS will never contact you by email, text, or social media.
• If you get a phone call from the IRS, it’s a scam. The IRS doesn’t call people.
• File your taxes early, giving hackers less time to file yours for you and steal your tax return.
• Keep your identity on lock: never share your Social Security number with untrusted sources and do not share your FAFSA PIN or ID with anybody.
• If you suspect you are a victim of student loan related fraud, experts suggest calling the Office of Inspector General hotline at 1-800-MIS-USED and freezing your credit.