Tax returns for hundreds of people were found in the middle of a Philadelphia street.
Yvette Santiago told NBC10 her husband spotted hundreds of papers in the street outside their home on the 1900 block of East Cheltenham Avenue Saturday morning.
“He thought it was garbage,” Santiago said. “But then he said, ‘Oh my God, look!’”
What he initially believed was trash was actually tax documents full of personal information.
“You have the name, social security and date of birth,” Santiago said.
Santiago showed the documents to NBC10’s Christine Maddela who took them to local accountant Michael Falco. Falco told NBC10 the documents were actual tax returns, showing where people work, their income and even information about their children.
“For the people who have documents here this could turn into a nightmare,” he said. “I’ve never seen anything like this before. This is unbelievable. Just terrible. Credit card theft you can stop. You’re only limited to a certain liability. This goes way beyond that because you can actually file a false tax return and get a refund. IRS paid out over $5 billion last year in false refunds from information that was stolen.”
Falco says the next step is figuring out how the documents ended up on the street.
“Who’s responsible for this getting out there because as a preparer, you’ve got a responsibility to make sure this information doesn’t get out,” he said.
Christine Maddela reached out to the Philadelphia Police Department who told her to notify the IRS once the office opens Monday. She is also tracking down the agency that prepared the tax returns.