Are We Sure That Online Filing Is A Good Thing?

     From the Detroit Free Press:

Tim Sagert has been enduring the pain of a double-whammy of identity theft.

First, a crook used his stolen ID to claim Social Security benefits last spring. Then this tax season, Sagert was hit with an SSA-1099 tax form for reporting the income paid to the crook.  ...

The Equifax data breach, first disclosed in September — which some dub as the most destructive data breach recorded —  compromised the personal information of nearly 146 million consumers, including some Social Security data. 

Many consumers wondered  whether someone would open a credit card in their name or file a fake tax return to generate a fraudulent refund using their stolen Social Security numbers.

Few imagined that hackers would try to make bogus claims for Social Security benefits.

But consumers who are in their 60s who have not claimed benefits yet could be at risk for headaches involving fraudulent Social Security retirement claims. ...

Social Security after full retirement age is eligible for up to six months of retroactive benefits, payable in a lump sum. If you accept that lump sum, your monthly benefit is smaller.

For the cyber crooks, the payout is huge if they  use the ID of someone in that age range who isn't already collecting benefits. ...

     I'm going to take a guess that the Social Security Administration would prefer that this not be reported. They wouldn't want their vulnerability to be better known.