Online and virtual identity theft is again on the rise. Taxpayers are not well informed about the dangers of tax identity fraud. Most attention in both social media and mass media is paid to credit fraud and virtual identity theft. While both are serious threats, compromising tax identification and filing fraudulent returns present just as grave a danger as other types of fraud. Federal and some state governments have been making a substantial push to fight this menace, with the IRS being at the helm of the fight. It has promoted significant initiatives to educate the public, but so far the efforts have been mostly oriented towards a narrow niche of tax professionals at the forefront of the battle






