An Oregon woman has been charged with tax fraud. How did she allegedly do it?

She bought herself a home-use tax preparation program. She prepared and electronically filed an Oregon state income tax return erroneously showing $3 million of income and claiming a $2.1 million refund.

Apparently, the Oregon Department of Revenue has some checks and balances in place. According to news reports, the return was flagged because of the large refund, and several people at the department reviewed the filing before allowing the system to process the refund.

Eventually, a debit card was issued with $2.1 million on it. Apparently, no one at the card issuer thought to question the amount on the card.

In a shopping spree that lasted several weeks, the perpetrator managed to spend about $150,000.

How was she caught? She reported another debit card from the same issuer as “lost or stolen.” Finally, that action caused someone to look at the “unusual circumstances” and contact the authorities.

“All good is hard. All evil is easy. Dying, losing, cheating, and mediocrity is easy. Stay away from easy.” – Scott Alexander, American author