Excerpt From Miami Herald Article: Miami-Dade tax roll up 3.39%
Excerpted Artcle
View the full article at http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/07/01/v-print/3480569/miami-dade-tax-roll-up-339-percent.html
Identity Theft Update to All Clients and Administrators
IMPORTANT MESSAGE TO ALL CLIENTS – PLEASE READ
*** IDENTITY THEFT UPDATE: ***
This alert is intended to update all clients with regard to the continuing need to exercise extreme diligence with regard to identity theft.
We have previously reported that fraudulent Federal Income Tax returns have been submitted using the social security numbers of police officers and firefighters, as part of an identity theft scheme.
We have now learned of at least one Florida city where the debit cards of public safety officers have apparently been impacted.
For this reason, we recommend that any suspicious activity should immediately be reported.
If a governmental entity or third party administrator thinks that it employees/retirees may have been affected by the previously reported Federal Income Tax scam, we recommend, in an abundance of caution, that all employees/retirees should be advised that they may want to:
- review their debit card accounts for suspicious activity;
- review their credit record for suspicious activity;
- consider closing or replacing debit cards.
Identity Theft
Good Morning,
It appears that the agency that we hired to manage our 1% (?) money was compromised. They also handle the pensions plans for many local police and fire departments in the tri -county area.
With OUR information taken, the Haitian group filed for income tax returns and directed the money to be sent to Green Dot cards, a loadable debit card device that is mailed to their home or vacant property, etc. With the loaded cards, the bad guys and their underlings went to ATMs and did cash pulls on a regular basis, draining the cash. Bank United noticed the cash pulls and called USSS, a credit union also alerted USSS, hence the surveillance started. I know the USSS squad working the case and have been involved since the first call came in.
If Dale was victimized, this will cause a delay for him and Anita to get their tax refund; they will not suffer a direct loss of money. IRS (we all do) takes the loss.
I would recommend that who ever gets hit to go to any one of the credit reporting agencies and file a fraud alert. This is done on line. (www.experian.com, www.transunion.com, and www.equifax.com) This is due to the the bad guys having our identities and they can apply for credit, change addresses and other terrible things. With the FREE credit alert, we will be notified if any one applies for credit under our names. IT IS FREE, DO NOT PAY FOR THE SERVICE FEES.
If Dale Files an ID Theft police report where he lives, the free credit monitoring, with the police case number is good for 7 years.
On the bright side, there has been one arrest made, others to follow.
Those who have not filed their income tax returns, do so ASAP.
Regards,
Sam
Legislative Alert!
135 S. Monroe St., Tallahassee, FL 32301 · 850-224-6926 · FAX 850-224-2266 · www.flaflcio.org
ALL HANDS ON DECK!
THE FIRST SHOWDOWN OF 2011 IS HERE!
JOIN US IN TALLAHASSEE OR BY PHONE
Tell your legislators:
“DON’T BALANCE THE BUDGET ON THE BACKS OF FLORIDA’S PUBLIC WORKERS”
The Senate Governmental Oversight and Accountability Committee has been holding hearings over the past few weeks concerning radical changes to Florida’s public pension systems, both the FRS and local plans. In spite of the fact that all of the information indicates our pension systems are strong and contributing to our overall economy, some seem determined to continue a dangerous course. This Friday, February 18th at 8:00 AM they are holding a public hearing on pensions in Tallahassee. All workers and retirees are needed to contact your elected officials and tell them to leave our public sector pensions alone!
* Florida’s budget is facing an over $3.5 billion deficit yet they are still talking about tax cuts for the wealthy and eliminating all corporate taxes! In order to pay for those tax cuts, they want to raid our pension systems which are some of the strongest in the nation.
* Legislators want to force public sector employees to pay 5% toward their pension contributions, amounting to a new income tax on our teachers, firefighters, police officers, state and local government workers. Public servants who have sacrificed raises over the past few years to balance state and local budgets and are paid at levels below their private sector counterparts.
* Closing the Defined Benefit plan for all new hires, forcing them into risky 401k plans where Wall Street will gamble with our tax dollars. Forcing all new hires into defined contribution plans will cost all taxpayers $150 million the first year, $300 million the second, $450 million the third and so on until 2018!
JOIN US IN TALLAHASSEE TO SPEAK OUT ON THIS FIRST ATTACK ON FLORIDA’S WORKERS!
If you can’t travel to Tallahassee, please contact Phyllis Garrett at pgarett@flaflcio.org
Or
CALL YOUR LEGISALTORS ON THE COMMITTEE AND TELL THEM TO STOP ATTACKING OUR PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS AND THEIR RETIREMENT SECURITY. CLICK HERE FOR THE COMMITTEE MEMBERS’ CONTACT INFORMATION.
CALL DON’T EMAIL
We need all private sector workers to stand in solidarity with our public counterparts, this is just the first attack of many this session…when they come for you, your public sector brothers and sisters will be there for you.
Below are the Legislative Committee Members and Phone Numbers
Jeremy Ring 850- 487-5094
Gary Siplin 850-487-5190
Gwen Margolis 850-487-5121
Lizbeth Benacquisto 850-487-5356
Ellyn Bogdanoff 850-487-5100
Charles Dean 850-487-5017
Mike Fasano 850-487-5062
Anitere Flores 850-487-5130
Rene Garcia 850-487-5106
Bill Montford 850-487-5004