Woman in Cordele Indicted for Identity Theft

A woman from the city of Cordele was indicted this past Thursday by a federal grand jury for her crime of stealing people’s identities. From reports of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Kimberly Michelle Banks was charged for using stolen identities and making false federal income tax returns.

Banks was charged with aggravated identity theft and wire fraud through a 6 count indictment. Federal prosecutors believed that she had used stolen identities to prepare false tax returns, and submitted them electronically to the IRS for refunds, knowing full well that they were fraudulent.

This particular case is being prosecuted by Trial Attorneys Alexander R. Effendi and Justin K. Gelfand. Both work under the Justice Department’s Tax Division. In addition, Michael Soli of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Georgia will also be on the case. The investigation of this case was done in part with the help of the IRS, as they aggressively seek out tax cheats and identity thieves on a daily basis.

There are many cases of identity theft that have been happening, and they will continue to happen as long as individuals are careless in protecting their personal information. These criminals can use it to make fraud federal income tax returns and more. Even if you don’t think that you are being careless with your information, you should still take extra precaution with your personal information. There are many identity thefts that are caught, but there are some that slip by, and will walk away with thousands of dollars of your hard earned cash.