Criminals across the country are raking in billions of dollars in tax refunds through a new and brazen form of fraud that takes advantage of the IRS’s fast online returns, law enforcement officials say.

Using laptops and free Wi-Fi connections, criminals are stealing identities and using the names of legitimate taxpayers to file fraudulent online tax returns. They have raked in billions, buying luxury cars, expensive jewelry and plastic surgery, police said.

“It is like the Federal Government is putting crack cocaine in candy machines” said Detective Craig Catlin of the North Miami Beach, Florida, Police Department. “It is that easy.” First, thieves obtain Social Security numbers and other personal information from insiders at hospitals, doctor’s offices, car dealerships or anywhere the information is stored. Then, they file an online tax return using the real taxpayer’s name and a fictitious income. In most cases, the criminals buy a debit card so the IRS can issue the refund on the card, although some thieves have also gotten their returns on actual Treasury checks. They also know that the IRS does not verify the employer W-2(s) sent with the return until the refund is issued.

COURT: HUSBAND MUST PAY CHILDCARE FOR TWINS CONCEIVED AFTER COUPLE’S SEPARATION.

A Nigerian immigrant is responsible for paying child support for twins conceived through in vitro fertilization with his wife, even though the procedure took place at least a year after the couple had separated, Massachusetts’ highest appeals court has ruled.

The court said the husband, Chukwudera B. Okoli, had originally consented to the artificial insemination procedure and so he is now responsible for these payments as the twins’ legal and biological parent, according to court documents. Okoli had argued that the agreement should be voided because he had consented under duress. He said his ex-wife, Blessing, threatened to obstruct his United States citizenship application if he did not consent, the documents said.

The two were married in Boston in 1991 and tried unsuccessfully to have children. They were eventually placed on a waiting list for donor eggs to pair with sperm that Okoli had donated. Though they separated in 2000, donor eggs became available in November of the following year. Blessing Okoli then acquired the husband’s consent to begin the in vitro procedure at a fertility clinic in Boston.

Their twins were born on May 12, 2003. Court documents did not indicate Okoli’s current immigration status.

ARRESTED NIGERIAN WOMAN SETS NEW RECORD IN DRUG SMUGGLING.

The United States Customs announced that a Nigerian woman, Bola Adebisi sets an unfortunate record at the Dulles International Airport when she tried to smuggle almost five pounds of Heroin into the United States of America.

Customs officials who arrested the 52-year-old woman said she ingested 180 thumb-sized pellets filled with $150,000 worth of heroin. She is charged with drug smuggling in a Federal court.

Officers became suspicious when Adebisi said she was coming to the United States to visit her brother, but couldn’t describe him. A routine pat-down found her stomach to be abnormally rigid. An X-ray revealed the pellets and she was taken to the hospital. A public defender declined to comment.

The previous record for an ingested drug seizure at Dulles occurred last year, when another Nigerian was discovered with more than four pounds of pellets.

Olakunle O. Bolarinwa,

Is a Nightline Family Member Of The Voice Of America {VOA}.

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