Be Aware: Tax Fraud Scams Affecting Johns Hopkins Employees

To Johns Hopkins Health System Employees

Dear Colleagues,

It has been widely reported that income tax refund fraud has occurred over the past several years, and is happening again this year. We have heard from some of you that you have become victims of these schemes. We are working closely with law enforcement to investigate whether and how employees of Johns Hopkins are being targeted by this tax fraud scheme.

If you file your 2016 tax returns and then hear from the IRS or your state income tax agency that returns have already been filed using your Social Security number, we ask that you advise us that you may have been a victim of tax fraud, by sending an email message to Johns Hopkins Corporate Security at DICC_Security@JHMI.edu.

We also recommend that you review the IRS identity protection website and follow the "Steps for Victims of Identity Theft" listed in the IRS publication Identity Theft Information for Taxpayers. Employees who are Maryland residents may also call the Baltimore Field Office of the Comptroller of Maryland at 410-260-7980 and visit http://www.marylandtaxes.com.

We know that employees who are the victims of tax fraud will be greatly inconvenienced, will need to devote considerable time to resolving their tax situation, and may face temporary financial issues owing to delayed refunds. We are committed to helping our affected employees and we will soon provide further information directly to those affected employees who have contacted us. This information will include an offer of free identity theft protection services, which includes credit and identity monitoring.

We again ask you to inform us at DICC_Security@JHMI.edu if you believe you may have been the victim of tax fraud.

Sincerely,

Stephanie L. Reel
Senior Vice President and CIO, Johns Hopkins Health System, Johns Hopkins Medicine
Vice Provost and CIO, Johns Hopkins University

Keith Hill
Vice President, Corporate Security
Johns Hopkins Medicine and Johns Hopkins University

Heidi Conway
Vice President, Human Resources
Johns Hopkins University

Inez Stewart
Senior Vice President, Human Resources
Johns Hopkins Medicine