Till Jail Do Us Part

A married couple from Atlanta probably didn’t vow to commit crime together when they tied the knot, but they are about to be separated by a prison sentence they received for committing tax refund fraud. An article in the Atlanta Business Chronicle details the duo’s crime involving hundreds of innocent tax payers.

The story states that the 33-year-old husband and his 25-year-old wife ran a stolen identity refund fraud scheme for approximately three months during 2013. Throughout this short time, the couple used stolen identities and fake wage and withholding information to file fraudulent tax returns claiming more than $600,000 in tax refunds.

Once the fraudulent tax refunds were received, the husband had the refunds activated on prepaid debit cards. The couple used the cards at ATM machines in the Atlanta area. (Now there’s a shopping spree just waiting to happen.)

Both the husband and wife pleaded guilty to theft of public funds and aggravated identity fraud. The man was sentenced to prison for seven years and three months, while the wife received a sentence of two years in prison.

While they will both probably have a prison mate while serving out their time, they will not be able to share a cell as man and wife. Perhaps a little time apart from each other will help this couple to examine their individual and collective contributions to this selfish and deceitful crime against honest taxpayers.

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Category: Fraud of the Day, Identity Fraud, Tax Refund Fraud