OREGON
Oregonian
By Brent Hunsberger | itsonlymoneyblog@gmail.com
on May 03, 2014
Time to follow up on recent columns:
Oregon regulators are investigating whether the Archdiocese of Portland violated state law by failing to properly notify employees and volunteers that they could be victims of tax-return fraud.
The Oregon Division of Finance and Corporate Securities has received two complaints from consumers about the Archdiocese, which oversees schools and parishes serving 418,000 Catholics in western Oregon. The complaints allege the Archdiocese failed to properly alert past and present employees and volunteers that their Social Security numbers might be compromised.
Hundreds have reported being victims of tax-return fraud, Archdiocese spokesman Bud Bunce said. All submitted those numbers as part of background checks before they begin working with youth in parishes and schools.
They learned of the crime when they filed their federal tax return, only to have the Internal Revenue Service reject it because one already had been filed using their Social Security number. Beaverton police took 39 reports of identity theft from Jesuit High School alone, department spokesman Mike Rowe said.
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