Pitt does it again

[JakeStyle]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026185351

His big scoop:

Thu Feb 5, 2015, 05:02 PM

WilliamPitt (57,640 posts)

"Scary stuff" UPDATE: the hack was TurboTax

First dribble of info is coming from Utah:

Utah Tax Commission flags thousands of potential fake returns
http://www.sltrib.com/home/2145693-155/utah-tax-comission-flags-thousands-of

Snip: Commission spokesman Charlie Roberts said it found that personal information has been stolen from previous returns filed through TurboTax. He said the commission is not yet sure if other programs and companies were affected, nor if the data was stolen from the cloud or some other means.

...but my source tells me as many as 15 other states could have been affected, and that whoever pulled this hack likely got the run of all of TurboTax's information. That might even mean Quickbooks, but I don't know.

Millions of people have been using TurboTax for years. I used it for years. It's a treasure trove of incredibly detailed tax and financial information...now in the wind.

It's a bad one, in my opinion.

Response to WilliamPitt (Original post)

Thu Feb 5, 2015, 07:51 PM

TurboTaxChristine (1 post)
51. TurboTax has not been hacked

Hi Folks,
Christine from TurboTax here. I want to assure you that TurboTax has not been hacked. We continuously monitor our systems in search of suspicious activity. And through that process, we have found no evidence of a data breach. In addition, we asked a third-party security firm – FireEye/Mandiant – to do an independent assessment. All evidence indicates that those initiating these attacks obtained information outside the tax filing process.

During this tax season, we have seen a significant increase in attempts by criminals to use stolen identity information such as names and social security numbers obtained from other sources outside the tax preparation process to file fraudulent state tax returns. This illegal activity originates outside the tax preparation process and uses TurboTax as the vehicle to commit this crime.

We will have more information coming on this issue, but I wanted to assure you that our customer's data is safe.

If you've been a victim of identity theft, we've established a dedicated 800 number where customers impacted by tax fraud can obtain further information with serially trained identity protection agents.

-Christine Morrison
TurboTax Communications

Response to TurboTaxChristine (Reply #51)

Thu Feb 5, 2015, 07:53 PM

WilliamPitt (57,640 posts)
52. So

...the Salt Lake Trib had it wrong? My guy in the biz whose whole management team is cloistered with Intuit reps is wrong?

Explain, please. 8,000 fraudulent returns in one state alone.

Response to uppityperson (Reply #55)

Thu Feb 5, 2015, 08:20 PM

berni_mccoy (17,887 posts)

58. Looks like the original article was edited

The quote that will pasted has been changed to the following:
Commission spokesman Charlie Roberts said it found that personal information has been stolen from previous returns filed through third-party software.

It previously said turbo tax.

Response to TurboTaxChristine (Reply #51)

Thu Feb 5, 2015, 08:01 PM

Star Member billh58 (4,521 posts)
54. Thank you for this information.

After just a cursory web search I found that this is not a new problem, and that TurboTax has been warning people about identity theft for several years.

As a longtime Intuit customer, I feel very confident that your products are indeed safe and secure.

Response to TurboTaxChristine (Reply #51)

Thu Feb 5, 2015, 08:40 PM

Star Member PeaceNikki (22,827 posts)

62. Thank you for clarifying this misinformation.

Response to WilliamPitt (Original post)

Thu Feb 5, 2015, 08:33 PM

Star Member uppityperson (91,535 posts)

60. Recommendation to you Will, since the article has now been edited and a person from TT has posted

though of course anyone could say they were that, it might behoove you to edit your OP since it appears you may be spreading false rumor of TT being hacked.

I doubt you will but wanted to throw this out anyway.

Response to WilliamPitt (Original post)

Thu Feb 5, 2015, 09:03 PM

Dr Hobbitstein (1,305 posts)

66. Your link has no mention of TurboTax.

Can't find anything to corroborate that, either. However, this is from 3 days ago in MN.

http://www.kare11.com/story/news/investigations/2015/02/02/identity-thieves-targeting-tax-refunds/22769445/

I think you may have jumped the gun here, Will. Being first to isn't always best.

Response to Dr Hobbitstein (Reply #66)

Thu Feb 5, 2015, 09:23 PM

WilliamPitt (57,640 posts)

68. It was there three hours ago.

Quote:

"Commission spokesman Charlie Roberts said it found that personal information has been stolen from previous returns filed through TurboTax. He said the commission is not yet sure if other programs and companies were affected, nor if the data was stolen from the cloud or some other means."

Develop your own conclusions as to how that happened.

Response to WilliamPitt (Reply #68)

Thu Feb 5, 2015, 09:26 PM

Dr Hobbitstein (1,305 posts)

70. I'm going out on a limb and say that things have developed

and they have new information, or that Charlie Roberts was using the word TurboTax as a catch-all or was misquoted. No news sources anywhere of a TurboTax hack. I'm thinking that would be HUGE news.

[Chris_]

Will sure is taking that $25 loss pretty hard.  There goes his weekend debauchery.

[GOBUCKS]

They get into ol' Pittiful's trust fund, he might have to actually WORK for a living.

Well, first, if any significant funds remained in the Pitt family, the drunken Will, his tattooed bride, and their whelp would never have been forced to move out of Boston and into the drunken Jane's cabin up in Rindge.

There is no remaining trust money. They're all living off the drunken Jane, who recently begged her way back onto the Rindge payroll, and the tattooed bride's retail clerking job. Will, of course, is incapacitated by his alcoholism.

Second, what is the deal with hacks? In the past two or three years, tens of millions or hundreds of millions of people have had their confidential information accessed by hackers.

Social security numbers, bank account numbers, passwords, everything.

But to date, no one can verify a single individual who has lost even one penny. Not one. You may hear stories, but they all originate with someone wanting to sell security services. No one has lost a dime.

People have had problems from stolen credit cards or from gadgets that steal passwords as they're entered at ATMs, but not from these humongous hacks. And when those stolen cards or passwords are used, the victim is never liable for a loss.

The only people who have suffered from hacks are all those simpleminded women who have allowed naked pictures to be taken, then lost onto the internet.

I'm way more worried about crabgrass than hacks.

[Big Dog]

WilliamPitt

Develop your own conclusions as to how that happened.

Hmmm... could it have something to do with the confluence of Pitt, a laptop, and a half gallon of Old Grand Dad?

[Ralph Wiggum]

All about him.  Shocking, I tell you.

[Ptarmigan]

Somehow, I just don't feel sorry for him.

[franksolich]

WilliamPitt (57,640 posts)   Thu Feb 5, 2015, 07:53 PM

52. So

Explain, please. 8,000 fraudulent returns in one state alone.

<<<waiting to see if the Bostonian Drunkard can explain thousands of fraudulent votes in many Democrat-machine precincts across the country.

[HawkHogan]

I feel bad for the TurboTax rep who had to register on Dummy land. Give that wins a bonus.

[98ZJUSMC]

I think you may have jumped the gun here, Will.

No.  Unpossible.

[dutch508]

What is Wee Willy up to now? 0 for 1000?


I guess we'll hear more about it in 24 business hours...

 

[obumazombie]

Another  model graduate of the cousin nadin school of journalism.

[franksolich]

What is Wee Willy up to now? 0 for 1000?

I guess we'll hear more about it in 24 business hours...

You know, this is about the time of the 10th anniversary of one of his premature ejaculations that seems to always be overlooked, perhaps because Fitzmas a year later was so.....spectacular.

The day after the presidential election of 2004, he announced that the Bostonian Billionaire was going to contest Ohio; they were right then getting the papers together.

The primitives waited several days, during which time nothing happened.  "Be patient, be patient," the Bostonian Drunkard told them; "according my deep-inside sources, it's going to happen any day now."

The primitives agreed they'd wait; they trusted the Bostonian Drunkard after all.

About ten days later, they started questioning again, "hey, we thought this thing was coming down."

The Bostonian Drunkard got a little pissy, telling them that, hey, the Thanksgiving holiday's coming up, and the courts'd be closed.  "But it's coming," he said; "after the holiday."

The primitives, placated, sat down and shut up.

But about mid-December, they started getting antsy again.

"It's coming, it's coming," the Bostonian Drunkard testily replied; "it's just that this is the holiday season, and everybody's taking time off work to go shopping."

Just before Christmas 2005, a few primitives dared say, "HEY, you said--"

The Bostonian Drunkard pointed out that the courts were closed for Christmas, but it'd for sure happen the next week.

Nothing still happened, and so just before New Year's Day, even more primitives this time, dared inquire about the matter.

The Bostonian Drunkard petulently reminded the courts were closed for the New Year's holiday, but not to worry; that his sources were good, and they all said the Bostonian Billionaire was just about ready to challenge Ohio.  For sure.

Well, nothing happened after New Year's.

I believe this kept happening clear up until St. Valentine's Day in February 2005, until the primitives gave up.

[Gina]

How did Christine from TurboTax find his post so fast?

[JakeStyle]

How did Christine from TurboTax find his post so fast?

The subject line and link was tweeted when someone hit the twitter link, I assume that they have people monitoring that sort of thing.

[Carl]

I feel bad for the TurboTax rep who had to register on Dummy land. Give that wins a bonus.

Can you imagine an uninitiated,normal persons reaction to the DUmp?
She must have taken a dozen showers after.

[JakeStyle]

He updated his OP several times.

Thu Feb 5, 2015, 05:02 PM

WilliamPitt (57,649 posts)

"Scary stuff" UPDATE: the hack was TurboTax (NEWER UPDATE)

Last edited Thu Feb 5, 2015, 09:50 PM - Edit history (3)
First dribble of info is coming from Utah:

Utah Tax Commission flags thousands of potential fake returns
http://www.sltrib.com/home/2145693-155/utah-tax-comission-flags-thousands-of

Snip: Commission spokesman Charlie Roberts said it found that personal information has been stolen from previous returns filed through TurboTax. He said the commission is not yet sure if other programs and companies were affected, nor if the data was stolen from the cloud or some other means.

...but my source tells me as many as 15 other states could have been affected, and that whoever pulled this hack likely got the run of all of TurboTax's information. That might even mean Quickbooks, but I don't know.

Millions of people have been using TurboTax for years. I used it for years. It's a treasure trove of incredibly detailed tax and financial information...now in the wind.

It's a bad one, in my opinion.

Update: All the hackers have done so far is use 2013 return information to file bogus 2014 returns, and direct the money to prepaid debit cards. It seems as though they are targeting taxpayers who are getting big refunds, and ignoring the smaller returns. They do, theoretically, have access to a vast pile of identity information, but whether or not they will do anything with that remains to be seen.

NEW Update: The Salt Lake Tribune re-re-edited their article to extract the name "TurboTax" from the "TurboTax was hacked" article. Given the fact that little ol' me got love from an Intuit PR flack, I think some muscles are being flexed.

For the record, the paragraph in the Trib read: "Commission spokesman Charlie Roberts said it found that personal information has been stolen from previous returns filed through TurboTax. He said the commission is not yet sure if other programs and companies were affected, nor if the data was stolen from the cloud or some other means."

...and there's this:

Minnesota Stops Accepting TurboTax Filings Due to Possible Fraud
Updated: 02/05/2015 8:15 PM

http://kstp.com/article/stories/s3699235.shtml

Stay tuned.

Apparently, the fact that a TurboTax representative responded is proof of a conspiracy.

[Carl]

The thread is well on its way to being a new classic at the DUmp. 

Response to Skidmore (Reply #126)

Fri Feb 6, 2015, 08:38 AM

Dr Hobbitstein (1,311 posts)
129. According to actual vetted news,

TurboTax wasn't hacked. A simple google search nets a blog from Crooks and Liars, and Will's OP, plus some articles on tax fraud in years past.

Response to Dr Hobbitstein (Reply #129)

Fri Feb 6, 2015, 08:40 AM

Star Member PeaceNikki (22,836 posts)
130. They would be required by law to disclose if they were.

Pitt irresponsibly is insisting they were with zero proof.

And, oh, hey, Karl Rove was totally indicted!!!

Response to PeaceNikki (Reply #130)

Fri Feb 6, 2015, 08:41 AM

Dr Hobbitstein (1,311 posts)
133. But TurboTax is flexing their big mean muscles...

Not allowing this info to come out. It's a CONSPIRACY

Response to Trajan (Reply #100)

Thu Feb 5, 2015, 11:51 PM

Star Member uppityperson (91,553 posts)
110. Yes, I am very interested, just think that posting someplace was hacked without evidence

is irresponsible journalism. I know there is the desire to scoop others on a story, but not by posting what appears to be libelous statements. Being first to break a story vs defamation and potential liability to this website.

Response to uppityperson (Reply #110)

Fri Feb 6, 2015, 07:24 AM

Star Member PeaceNikki (22,836 posts)
122. Yeah, and let's all fondly remember the "scoop" the OP pitched us in '06

He was quite confident of his sources then, too. Couple the OP's history of that irresponsible "reporting" event (and the nasty way he treated the doubters then) with the fact that there are laws which compel companies to disclose security breaches and a statement in this thread from said company denying such, and we have a lot of reason to dismiss this as well.

 

[obumazombie]

A really devious Dummy could turn this into a money grabbing scam bigger than scamdy.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Man, ol' PeaceNikki ain't sparing the lash at all on that one!

 

[Big Dog]

Here's a novel idea, William (because I know you'll read this, you drunken loser).

Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, using as few words as possible. Keep your opinions to yourself. Two verifiable sources must be referenced in any report, and somebody else's blog does not count as a source.

Think you can do that?

[docstew]

Here's a novel idea, William (because I know you'll read this, you drunken loser).

Tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, using as few words as possible. Keep your opinions to yourself. Two verifiable sources must be referenced in any report, and somebody else's blog does not count as a source.

Think you can do that?

cc: Brian Williams, Anderson Cooper, et al.

[Carl]

Tripling down and still showing how stupid he is.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026188568

 Fri Feb 6, 2015, 10:46 AM

WilliamPitt (57,652 posts)

...and boom goes the dynamite. (TurboTax)
TurboTax Temporarily Halts E-Filing In All States Amid Fraud Concerns
http://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2015/02/06/turbotax-temporarily-halts-e-filing-in-all-states-amid-fraud-concerns/

From that link.

The initial findings have led Intuit to believe that these instances of fraud did not result from a security breach of its systems. Instead, the company believes that the information used to file fraudulent returns was obtained from other sources outside the tax preparation process.

In essence Turbo Tax was used as a platform for some person or group to file fraudulent returns.
Pittstain said the info was cleaned from Turbo Tax.

[Chris_]

Instead, the company believes that the information used to file fraudulent returns was obtained from other sources outside the tax preparation process.

I'm putting my money on illegal aliens.

[Zathras]

Somehow, I just don't feel sorry for him.

I get that feeling about every DUmbass when they post their miseries and misfortunes.

[diesel driver]

I'm putting my money on illegal aliens.

Same here.

I read somewhere that in 2012, over 40,000 tax returns, totaling $4 million, were mailed to 1 address in Atlanta, GA.

And you want these asshats overseeing our health care!!!!

Yeah, right!