The State of Georgia Prevents Tax Refund Fraud With the Help of LexisNexis Pilot Program

ATLANTA, GA--(Marketwire - May 14, 2012) - LexisNexis^® Risk Solutions today announced that the State of Georgia has leveraged the LexisNexis Tax Refund Investigative Solution in a pilot program for the purpose of mitigating identity fraud, and it has awarded the company a contract to continue the effort. The pilot program was launched in January 2012 and utilizes identity verification and authentication tools to detect and prevent potentially fraudulent tax returns. The pilot program detected that two percent of all returns filed were potentially fraudulent and is part of the state's comprehensive anti-fraud program, which stopped millions of dollars in fraudulent returns in 2011.

"Tax refund fraud is a growing problem nationwide, and increasingly it is perpetrated by criminals who steal the identities of innocent taxpayers and then submit returns requesting refunds before the real taxpayer has a chance to do so," said Georgia Department of Revenue Commissioner, Doug MacGinnitie. "We launched our anti-fraud program to stop tax refund fraud in Georgia. By leveraging best practices and enhancing our existing system with an identity-based approach to finding fraud, we are protecting both the taxpayers and the State of Georgia."

Georgia's pilot program of the LexisNexis Tax Refund Investigative Solution utilized identity-based filters, which screened tax refund requests against billions of LexisNexis identity records collected from public databases and commercial sources. When a returned record is flagged with a fraud indicator, the individual is asked to answer a series of identity authentication questions which only an individual with authentic, personal knowledge can answer. The authentication questions were securely integrated into the Georgia Department of Revenue website and customer service center.

"LexisNexis is pleased by the outcome of the Georgia pilot program and honored by the state's contract award and confidence in our technology solutions," said Haywood Talcove, chief executive officer, Government, LexisNexis Risk Solutions. "Georgia has a long track record of success in preventing tax refund fraud, and we are privileged to work with a state that is out in front of one of the biggest fraud challenges facing government programs today. We look forward to working with Georgia to build on the success of its anti-fraud program."

For more information, please visit LexisNexis on the web at http://www.lexisnexis.com/government/solutions/revenue/tax-refund-investigative.aspx.

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