A Local 10 viewer who was a victim of identity theft said she tracked her own tax return fraudulently filed at a Miami flea market.
A check on that business inside Flea Market USA found it had been closed and shuttered.
A few miles away at a storefront tax return service, tax preparers lamented that a proliferation of fly-by-night tax services are ruining their legitimate business and providing a fertile ground for fraud.
"Right now, I do one of these every single day just about," said tax preparer Gaye Fletcher, holding a form to report identity theft.
Countless clients have come to her to file tax returns only to find someone has fraudulently filed for them and stolen their return.
Fletcher requires clients to prove their identities with photo ID's, W-2 forms and paystubs, and any dependents' birth records.
That is not the case with the some online return programs. Basic identifying information, such as names, dates of birth and Social Security numbers, are all that's necessary to file, and can become keys to steal an identity for anyone who manages to obtain them.
"People do it at their house. You have Turbo Tax, you have all these different softwares and they don't ask for anything online," said Fletcher.
The Federal Trade Commission calls South Florida the nation's hot-spot for ID theft tax fraud.
South Florida lawmakers are working on legislation to address the issues.
"The penalties are not significant enough," said Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman-Schultz. "What's worse is that the law right now allows the IRS to protect the person who stole your identity rather than the taxpayer whose identity was stolen."