Scam Targets Older Blacks
Source: AARP Bulletin Today | 2003-06-20 13:02:44
The typewritten flyers were posted on bulletin boards and jammed under windshield wipers beginning last summer, headlined, "Born prior to the year of 1928 and of the black ethnic race?"
The flyers described a federal tax refund or credit for elderly African Americans to make amends for the tolls of slavery. The only problem is that the benefit doesn't exist, say the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and other federal agencies.
"There is no such law as the Slave Reparations Act—the flyer is a hoax," James G. Huse Jr., the Social Security Administration's Inspector General, warned in July.
Huse's investigation found that nearly 30,000 individuals from around the country had replied to flyers posted in churches, nursing homes and senior centers. Flyers promised $5,000 in reparations to older individuals who sent specific personal information to a "Victims Registry" at a Washington post office box.
Not only did respondents not receive any money but by sharing sensitive personal information, they put themselves at risk for identity fraud, sending driver's licenses, military papers, Social Security cards and—in at least one case—an original birth certificate.
Where to Turn
• For inquiries or to report suspected fraud about nonexistent slave reparation claims, call the IRS criminal investigation tax crime hotline at (800) 829-0433.
• For information or queries on the flyer hoax or if you suspect fraud, call the Social Security Administration hotline at (800) 269-0271.
• To learn more online, see the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) alert about the slave reparations scam at www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/
pubs/alerts/hoaxalrt.htm.
A second hoax centering on a fictitious Slave Reparations Act involves promoters who fool taxpayers and charge them up to $120 to handle fake "black tax" or reparation claims.
The IRS, says spokesman Anthony Burke, has received nearly 70,000 federal tax returns with slavery reparation claims even though no such deduction or credit exists.
Taxpayers are not only robbed of the money spent on faulty tax advice, but they're soon in hot water with the IRS for filing for credits or refunds to which they are not entitled.
There is another hidden cost, Burke points out: sharing sensitive personal information—Social Security numbers, income data—with untrustworthy people who can then use it for their own purposes.
Says Burke, "People hearing about tax benefits that sound too good to be true should check them out with a trusted tax professional or the IRS."
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