Florida man sentenced for unlawfully accessing IRS system and fraudulently filing tax returns

MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA – Keith Joseph, of Miami, Florida, was sentenced today to 60 months of incarceration for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft, United States Attorney William Ihlenfeld announced.

Joseph, age 37, pleaded guilty in January 2022 to one count of “Wire Fraud” and one count of “Aggravated Identity Theft.” Joseph admitted to fraudulently accessing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) eAuthentication online taxpayer system, which has servers located in Berkeley County, from March 2015 to March 2017.  Joseph obtained personal identifying information of taxpayers without their knowledge to gain access to the IRS online taxpayer system.  Once he had access, Joseph unlawfully obtained income tax transcripts and fraudulently filed tax returns using the taxpayers’ personal identifying information. 

Joseph was ordered to pay $142,237 in restitution.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Shawn M. Adkins prosecuted the case on behalf of the government. The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration Cybercrime Investigations Division investigated. 

U.S. District Judge Gina M. Groh presided.