YSK: Tax return fraud could reach a record high for this tax year because of the data breaches. Protect yourself.

By now, everyone has probably heard of the major credit bureau data breach which exposed something like 140 million people's personal information, including SSNs, to hackers.

There are plenty of ways that the information could be used against you but one of the more devious methods is when a hacker poses as you early in the year to claim your tax return from the previous year. The risk is especially high if you wait until the last minute to file your taxes. Often, what they'll do is put in for a modest tax return, not enough to raise any red flags, and direct the money to a bank account of their choosing. They'll then immediately withdraw it or transfer it out so that by the time the fraud is detected, they already have your return in cash.

One of the easiest ways you can avoid falling prey to this scam is by filing your taxes immediately when you receive your W2(s). By doing so, it will block the IRS computers from giving a refund to anyone posing as you.

If you have any sort of suspicious activity on your credit, you're probably at an even higher risk of it happening to you. You can check for suspicious activity and your score here or just get your reports from annual credit report

The IRS isn't giving out identity theft PINs for this recent breach because it just affects too many people. Sad state of affairs we are in when that's the case, especially when the CEO's golden parachute kicked in, but now it's something half of America has to deal with.