Newnan resident Damian Alarcon-Morales has been arraigned for fraudulently using the identities of Mexican nationals to obtain income tax refunds. Alarcon-Morales was indicted by a federal grand jury on Oct. 14.
“(Alarcon-Morales) is charged with engaging in a cross-border scheme to defraud the tax system of over $700,000 in fraudulent refunds,” said U.S. Attorney Sally Quillian Yates. “Attempts to profit from fraudulent tax returns are increasing, and we will continue to aggressively investigate and prosecute these cases.”
Yates said Alarcon-Morales, 31, on Sept. 15 was found in possession of federal income tax returns, Internal Revenue Service correspondence, Mexican identification documents, and handwritten notes. The documents contained personal identifiers that corresponded to over 200 individuals, most of whom are Mexican nationals, Yates said.
In most cases, the Mexican identification documents were used to obtain Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN) which are assigned to foreign nationals and others not eligible for Social Security Numbers, but who are required to file United States tax returns, Yates said.
Yates said identifiers in Alarcon-Morales’ possession were linked to at least 175 fraudulent tax returns filed between 2011 and 2014.
“Based upon these returns, the IRS issued over $700,000 in tax refund checks, which were dispersed to Alarcon-Morales and others. This conduct is commonly referred to as Stolen Identity Refund Fraud,” Yates said.
