Identity Thieves Misfile, Hit With Whopping Tax Bill

Hackers believed to operate from Eastern Europe stole employee W-2s via phishing/impostor campaigns and used them to file tens of thousands of fraudulent tax returns seeking refunds; a mistake in their filings (including 1099-MISC declarations of illicit income such as ransomware proceeds) resulted in the IRS assessing substantial tax liabilities—estimated over $300 million in aggregate—turning expected refunds into large bills and exposing the scale and impact of the identity-theft campaign.