The U.S. Postal Inspection Service has filed a complaint against a former H&R Block employee and three other people, alleging that they used personnel information on H&R Block customers to open credit card accounts and steal tax refund checks.
According to the complaint, the information was taken by Ivy Johnson, who worked as an office manager at H&R Block office in a White Plains, NY tax office between late December 2000 and early April 2001. Johnson allegedly stole names, addresses, dates of birth and social security numbers of Block clients.
Johnson and her co-defendants—Charles Griffin, Latasha Edwards-Hamlett and Catherine Pointer—allegedly opened charge card accounts using this information, and to have filed change of address notifications, diverting tax refunds to a Mailboxes Etc. location. The complaint stated that the four used the credit cards to make thousands of dollars in purchases, and that one diverted refund check was worth roughly $8,000.
H&R Block spokesperson Linda McDougall said that none of the suspects aside from Johnson had any connection to Block.
She added that no H&R Block clients had come forward claiming that they were victims of fraud, and that the first time the company learned about the concerns was when it was contacted by postal inspectors.
McDougall didn’t know if the case would result in any changes being made to Block’s information safety policies, but did note that these policies are reviewed on an annual basis.
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