He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to file false claims and aggravated identity theft

May 8, 2013 14:59 GMT  ·  By

Corey Thompson has been sentenced to 30 months in prison for his role in a stolen identity refund fraud scheme. The man pleaded guilty to conspiracy to file false claims and aggravated identity theft in the summer of 2012.

While tax refund schemes are not uncommon, this one is worth mentioning because of the technique that was used to file the fraudulent tax returns.

In 2011 and 2012, the man worked as an independent contractor for a cable company. He was in charge of installing cable and internet access.

According to the DOJ, Thomson used “his specialized knowledge and equipment” to hijack the Internet connections of the individuals that he had worked for.

The hijacked connections were then used to file the false tax returns.

By making it look as if the tax returns were filed from the computers of his customers, and by directing the tax refunds to be placed on pre-paid debit cards, Thompson hoped to get away with it.

However, the US Postal Service managed to intercept the payment cards.

It’s believed that Thomson filed 27 fraudulent tax returns in 2011, requesting a total of $91,304 (€69,000) in refunds.