Apparently, I'm An Uber Driver

[Aspiring]

Originally Posted by Maryc-k

But he wasn’t doing business with them. He was dragged into this by someone who accessed his personal info. He has no choice now but to clean up their mess as it relates to his identity and tax history.

Believe me I am well aware of how sleezy Uber is, but it’s not an excuse to just let them off the hook for their lack of ethics and following the law in terms of verifying employee and contractor identities.

I don't disagree there at all. I went through the identity theft process a few years back. The police report essentially just gives you documentation to use when dealing with the mess that you end up having to clean up.

Unfortunately it does not appear to have much activity where they actually do much follow up with the entities that were the source unless it can be tracked to a major ring / case.

My point being i don't expect the police etc filings to have much actual impact on Uber not that the OP shouldn't go ahead and make the filings.

[srick]

Originally Posted by Aspiring

...My point being i don't expect the police etc filings to have much actual impact on Uber not that the OP shouldn't go ahead and make the filings.

Exactly. The point here is to start now: document everything, alert everyone, and lock down everything. The IRS can take care of chasing down the errant 1099. Leave Uber's prosecution to a government regulatory agency.

You are the best detective here and the only one who will be looking out for Pura Vida.

[lfoo6952]

Originally Posted by srick

Exactly. The point here is to start now: document everything, alert everyone, and lock down everything. The IRS can take care of chasing down the errant 1099. Leave Uber's prosecution to a government regulatory agency.

You are the best detective here and the only one who will be looking out for Pura Vida.

I disagree that a police report has no impact. It is official documentation to show to the IRS or anyone else that you were a victim of fraud and not responsible for paying the taxes owed. IRS may not take your word for it unless you have the police report.

[srick]

Originally Posted by lfoo6952

I disagree that a police report has no impact. It is official documentation to show to the IRS or anyone else that you were a victim of fraud and not responsible for paying the taxes owed. IRS may not take your word for it unless you have the police report.

It’s a step to take. One of the problems that our police departments have is a lack of jurisdiction or reciprocity, even if the perpetrator lives a couple of towns over. And in this case, tracking down the perp (or even the malfeasance of uber) is something that very few PDs can divert resources to. Again, I agree that you need to document as much as you can.

When I reported my identity theft to IRS, they did not ask for a police report. However, I did file one, and I did file a complaint with the FTC. The IRS took care of it and that’s all I know.

[Pura Vida]

Hey, all. I'm just reading through the responses, which I appreciate. I called the IRS this morning, and after 30-45 minutes (mostly on hold, while they compiled the recommended steps), they agree with most of your advice, so you're all awesome and pointing me into the same places as they are.

For anyone reading this (now or later), these are the steps they suggest:

1. Go to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website; download, complete, and submit form 14039 (Identify Theft Affidavit)

2. Contact Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and open a case with them

3. Contact all three credit agencies (Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union) and open cases with them

4. Contact Social Security Administration (SSA) and open a case

5. Contact local law enforcement and file a police report

Although the IRS agrees that this was most likely used for employment purposes, but it could be the start of more to come, if my SSN and info is out there and being used for fraudulent purposes. Taking these steps, even though inconvenient, will flag and stop anything else from happening to my account.

I agree that it may be worthwhile to update my passwords and make sure there is two-step verification on the key items (I'm pretty good about these things, but obviously, we can't be too careful).

Thanks again. I'll keep everyone posted on how this plays out. I've got some more work to do over the next couple of days.

[srick]

Good luck Pura!

[Aspiring]

Glad you are on it and best of luck. It is super annoying and frustrating to deal with.

The one thing missed in those list of steps is to lock down your credit at the bureaus as mentioned above in a previous post in addition to reporting it to them.

My original identity theft happened as an organized activity where an employee at a company that had access to credit reporting tools would run batches of credit report queries with specific profiles (unmarried income level high credit score etc).

They then sold that information to crime groups that started making use of the information to build up my new "wife's" credit profile. Point being there was literally nothing I could have done to prevent it and many larger scale breaches are similar.

I only found out about the how as I received a notification from a court that i was a victim of this crime they were prosecuting.

And that was well after I had already cleaned it up.

The locking down has been very helpful for me. Also cuts down significantly on the junk mail credit offers.

[TBman]

You'll probably have to get a pin from the IRS (and your spouse if applicable) if you want to e-file for 2022 or just file on paper. Talk to your tax preparer.

[Pura Vida]

Originally Posted by TBman

You'll probably have to get a pin from the IRS (and your spouse if applicable) if you want to e-file for 2022 or just file on paper. Talk to your tax preparer.

The good news is that the tax preparer and my wife are the same person.