…$212,000 in salary this year. Which means you owe taxes on it.”
I’m a retired school secretary. I have never been anyone’s financial director.
The investigator, Mr. Diaz, showed me the payroll records. A small import company had been “paying” me twice a month. The money came into the account and went straight back out to several other accounts within days.
“This looks like money laundering,” he said. “Someone needed a real person with clean credit to run money through. They picked you.”
The company was owned by my daughter-in-law Tanya’s employer. Tanya worked as his office manager. She’d used the copies of my ID she collected for my “property tax discount” to open the account and put me on payroll.
If I hadn’t seen that screenshot, I would have received a tax bill in the spring for income I never earned. The IRS would have come after me, not them.
The bank closed the account and reported it to federal investigators. My lawyer filed an identity theft affidavit with the IRS so nothing could be charged to me.
My son, Marcus, didn’t know. “Just make sure her son doesn’t find out either.” Tanya had been right about that part. When he learned the truth, he moved out that same week.
Tanya and her boss were indicted six months later. I froze my credit at all three bureaus. My grandson set up alerts on my phone. Now, every time someone so much as looks at my name, I know.
