John Langeler reports:
Most people would enjoy getting a $7,000 check in the mail. In the case of one West Seattle man, all the check indicated was his identity had been stolen.
“The check had my Social Security Number on it as well as another woman’s name,” he said, asking us not to release his name, “It immediately became suspicious.”
The check arrived two weeks ago and claimed to be a tax refund. This despite the fact the man already knows he’s not getting one, in fact he owes the federal government money.
He contacted the Internal Revenue Service, credit agencies and the police, only to find this kind of scam is more widespread.
The man volunteers at Holy Rosary School as a coach, and soon discovered other parents and volunteers at the campus had their taxes falsely filed as well. It is believed the database of background checks conducted by the church was compromised.
Read more on KING5.
Update: KIRO-TV reports that the problem goes beyond the school and may affect up to 90,000 archdiocese employees who went through background checks. The FBI is investigating the hack.
The Archdiocese of Seattle sent out an urgent notice yesterday and this updated one today.
It’s not yet clear whose database got hacked – was this the firm that runs criminal background checks or a church database? Stay tuned…