A Harrisburg woman will serve a year in prison after filing 33 fraudulent tax returns. Stephanie A. Metz, 25, provided a co-conspirator with addresses where the fraudulent income tax refund checks could be delivered by mail and was paid a fee for each refund check she delivered to her co-conspirator. For the tax years 2010 and 2011, Metz provided addresses for 33 fraudulent income tax returns requesting $242,095 in fraudulent tax refunds. The IRS paid out $57,216 to the co-conspirator before the scheme was detected in early 2012. Metz was also ordered to pay $57,216.22 back to the IRS.
The investigation is part of a project known as Operation Mass Mail involving the filing of hundreds of thousands of false returns using stolen identity information of residents of Puerto Rico. The investigation was conducted by the Criminal Investigation Division of the IRS and is assigned to Senior Litigation Counsel Bruce Brandler.