Tax prep mistake puts woman's identity at risk

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Ebony Hills

By Don Logana - bio | email

SAVANNAH, GA (WTOC) - A Savannah women's personal information wasn't stolen. It was accidentally passed on after she used a local tax preparer.

It all started with what she thought was a simple tax return preparation.

The next day, she received a phone call from a clothing store claiming they had her personal information, copies of her license, social security number and her children's social security numbers.

"This is very serious," Ebony Hills told WTOC. She never thought getting her taxes done would cause so much trouble.

"I decided to take my taxes in on Wednesday," she said. She went to Jackson Hewitt at McAlpin Square.

"I got a phone call Thursday morning from a lady at Men's Wearhouse saying she had a copy of my license and social security card and kids' social security card," Hills explained. "She asked if I filed with Jackson Hewitt. I said yes. She said you can pick up your information, because it is in my hands."

Somehow, all of Hill's personal information and her two children's information had been sent to a store across the shopping center.

"I was like, oh my God. When she called I thought she just had a paper with my social security. I never knew she had a copy of my picture and card," Hills said. "These are the original copies. These are just cut. These are not shredded but they were supposed to be shredded."

WTOC took Hills back to Jackson Hewitt for answers. The office manager told us the tax information was mixed up on a desk with coupons they were cutting to send out to local stores.
They claim it was an isolated mistake, which has never happened before. They usually shred everything and apologized, even offering Hills a free tax return.

"I'm still not happy. That is no excuse," Hills said. "The employees are careless."

Bernadette Brinkley was the one who found Hill's information.

"Jackson Hewitt brought us some coupons to the store and I just so happened to flip through and saw there was information that belonged to somebody else," Brinkley said. "I thought to myself, wow, this is how people's identity is stolen every day."

"I was shocked," Hills said. "Just like she said, that's how my identity can get stolen."

Jackson Hewitt's apology isn't helping Hills, but she is happy an honest person caught the mistake instead of her personal information getting into the wrong hands.

"They could take my identity and my kids' identity too," she said. "It's very frustrating."

Jackson Hewitt says all paperwork goes into a shred box which is then shredded in a giant shredder. But somehow, Hills' paperwork never made it there.

The Better Business Bureau recommends watching the people shred your information or take it home and shred it yourself to be sure.