A Texas man was sentenced to more than 14 years in prison for leading a scam seeking to steal more than $110 million in tax refunds, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
The sentence was handed down to Abraham Yusuff of Round Rock on Sept. 6, according to a DOJ press release. Yusuff was convicted of being the leader of a “stolen-identity-refund-fraud” scheme that ran between 2018 and 2021, the DOJ said. As part of the scheme, Yusuf and his co-conspirators contacted the IRS, posing as Certified Public Accountants and other professionals claiming to be authorized representatives of multiple taxpayers.
The defendants asked the IRS to amend taxpayer addresses on file and send tax-related information to the false addresses handled by them. Such information included wage records and account transcripts.
Data received from the IRS was used to electronically file more than 370 returns claiming fraudulent refunds. The group directed the IRS to split refunds among several prepaid debit cards that were registered in the name of the victims.
Before issuing the refunds, the IRS sent verification letters. However, these letters went to addresses controlled by the scammers, who then instructed the agency to release the refunds.
The defendants aimed to collect more than $110 million from the scheme. They succeeded in securing $30 million in fraudulent refunds from the IRS, according to Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart Goldberg of the DOJ’s Tax Division.
On Friday, one of Yusuff’s co-conspirators was sentenced to more than two years and another for more than three years. Yusuff was also ordered to pay more than $30 million, and the other two ordered to pay more than $3.5 million combined.