Government

Tax refund thieves are becoming more brazen. The newest twist: Depositing pilfered tax refunds in the taxpayers' bank accounts and then requesting the money be returned.

Tax-related identity theft remains one of the IRS “Dirty Dozen” top tax scams. While heftier safeguards implemented in 2016 helped the IRS catch 787,000 fraudulent returns totaling more than $4 billion, they still paid out $239 million in suspicious refunds.