UNH Information Security Services (ISS) is currently investigating cases where university personnel—both faculty and staff—have experienced identity theft related to tax filing.
Tax-related identity theft is typically found when a person filing their taxes is notified by the IRS that a refund claim has been filed for that tax year. Nationally, 8 to 10 percent of taxpayers may have been affected by identity theft as reported by IRS and FBI sources in 2015.
There is no evidence of any breach of USNH or UNH data that may have contributed to this situation, but we wanted to make faculty and staff aware of this ongoing issue.
If you or someone you know has experienced tax related identity theft, ISS recommends the following actions, some of which you may have already taken, to reduce your risk of additional financial loss or further identity theft:
- Report your loss to the IRS and your local police department.
- Obtain and monitor credit reports for at least one year; free reporting is offered by the three major credit companies and can be requested at the website www.annualcreditreport.com.
- Create a credit lock or freeze; for more information see the Federal Trade Commission webpage.
- Use the free service from the IRS to create a tax-filing PIN at the IRS website.
- Contact your insurance agent to see if your homeowner’s or renter’s insurance policy offers identity theft protection.
- Ensure your Social Security number and other financial information is not stored on your work or personal computers. For UNH/USNH computers, use Identity Finder to locate and remove such information. Contact ISS for assistance to install and run Identity Finder.
If you have any further questions or input, please don’t hesitate to contact ISS .
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Written By:
Erika Mantz | Communications and Public Affairs | erika.mantz@unh.edu
