Around 50 employees of the University of Northern Iowa have experienced problems with filing their tax returns and may have had their identities stolen. UNI spokesman Scott Ketelsen says school officials were first notified of the situation three weeks ago when two employees filed their taxes electronically and were rejected with “error” messages.
“Over the next seven to 10 days, the number grew from two to approximately 12,” Ketelsen said. More employees have come forward over the last few weeks, with some reporting their tax returns were filed by someone else. “Obviously, those scenarios are fraud and those are the ones we’re highly concerned about,” Ketelsen said.
The IRS and the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation have been contacted by the university. Ketelsen said it doesn’t appear as though the university’s data systems have encountered any breach and no students have reported any problems. “We’ve set up a ‘help line’ on campus for employees who think they’ve been impacted or they want to know what to do next,” Ketelsen said. Officials at the University of Maryland and Oakland University in Michigan have reported similar issues.
(Reporting by Scott Fenzloff, KCNZ, Cedar Falls)