IRS Will Soon Require Selfies for Online Access

[yuna628 9,680]

Well I read this article to the hubby the other day and felt quite alarmed by it really. This will effect those people that simply need a tax transcript for their immigration paperwork.

Krebs goes on to attempt to register and test out the entire thing and a lot of people had some pretty interesting questions about the process and nightmare stories about the headaches it created in their own lives. 

 

Quote

If you created an online account to manage your tax records with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS), those login credentials will cease to work later this year. The agency says that by the summer of 2022, the only way to log in to irs.gov will be through ID.me, an online identity verification service that requires applicants to submit copies of bills and identity documents, as well as a live video feed of their faces via a mobile device.

To sum up, they pretty much want everything and every personal identifying item the USCIS has ever asked about you and access to your PC or phone - in a nightmare process to some outsourced company that will claim to keep everything safe and share it with the IRS just so that you can get access to your account. https://krebsonsecurity.com/2022/01/irs-will-soon-require-selfies-for-online-access/comment-page-4/#comments

[TBoneTX 45,543]

16 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

quite alarmed by it

With good reason, Y ma'am.

Maybe the next Congress can straighten this out.

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

It sounds nightmarish and it seems you cannot opt out: you must give ALL your information to IDme or you simply won't have access to the IRS site.

 

I completely agree with the comments against giving all your sensitive information to a private company. 

 

One comment says that people fought back against these ID.me requirement when it was implemented at EDD and were successful.

 

I truly hope that many will complain and IRS will give another option to log in, because this is so amazingly wrong.

 

 

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

Btw, the title of the article focuses on the selfies. Wish that was the only source of concern. 

 

You have to upload sensitive documents on a private company website, plus literally showing them to a random unknown person during a non secure web cam session. It's like a hackers/identity thieves dream. 

[Dashinka 24,601]

Just now, Allaboutwaiting said:

Btw, the title of the article focuses on the selfies. Wish that was the only source of concern. 

 

You have to upload sensitive documents on a private company website, plus literally showing them to a random unknown person during a non secure web cam session. It's like a hackers/identity thieves dream. 

This won't go wrong...

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

1 minute ago, Dashinka said:

This won't go wrong...

No, not at all. The CEO of the company says that they employ multiple layers of security and their policy states that they will not use the verification information for any type of marketing or promotional purposes.

 

I so totally trust them. 

[Dashinka 24,601]

55 minutes ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

No, not at all. The CEO of the company says that they employ multiple layers of security and their policy states that they will not use the verification information for any type of marketing or promotional purposes.

 

I so totally trust them. 

And when a data breech occurs, they will not tell anyone for months.

[Dashinka 24,601]

Great company to choose.

 

Overview

ID.me has a consumer rating of 1.11 stars from 539 reviews indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Consumers complaining about ID.me most frequently mention phone number, customer service and video call problems. ID.me ranks 497th among Software Other sites.

 

https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/id.me

 

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/id.me

Edited January 21, 2022 by Dashinka

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

3 minutes ago, Dashinka said:

Great company to choose.

 

Overview

ID.me has a consumer rating of 1.11 stars from 539 reviews indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Consumers complaining about ID.me most frequently mention phone number, customer service and video call problems. ID.me ranks 497th among Software Other sites.

 

https://www.sitejabber.com/reviews/id.me

 

https://www.trustpilot.com/review/id.me

And on bbb.org it has 1477 complaints.

IRS definitely does not have the tax payers online security in mind. 

[yuna628 9,680]

2 hours ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

Btw, the title of the article focuses on the selfies. Wish that was the only source of concern. 

 

You have to upload sensitive documents on a private company website, plus literally showing them to a random unknown person during a non secure web cam session. It's like a hackers/identity thieves dream. 

Oh yeah absolutely, there's tons of concerns here. Apparently the SSA has been using this system too? State entities have also been using it for unemployment benefits. Oh boy... I feel for people having to go through this. Pretty bonkers.

[TBoneTX 45,543]

Feels like kickbacks are involved somewhere...

[Allaboutwaiting 2,503]

3 minutes ago, yuna628 said:

Oh yeah absolutely, there's tons of concerns here. Apparently the SSA has been using this system too? State entities have also been using it for unemployment benefits. Oh boy... I feel for people having to go through this. Pretty bonkers.

Absolutely!

Once you posted I googled it and it has been up and running in several states and with IRS for child tax credits since 2021.

Most complaints I read are about not even being able to be verified for one reason or another. 

 

Fortunately there's the option to get transcripts by mail -which also poses risks- but won't require people signing up for this dreadful thing. 

 

 

[PGA 247]

3 hours ago, Allaboutwaiting said:

Absolutely!

Once you posted I googled it and it has been up and running in several states and with IRS for child tax credits since 2021.

Most complaints I read are about not even being able to be verified for one reason or another. 

 

Fortunately there's the option to get transcripts by mail -which also poses risks- but won't require people signing up for this dreadful thing. 

 

 

OK...so out of curiosity, I uploaded my info...I'll probably regret that later.... So, it had me upload my full social security card, my US drivers license (front and back) and my birth certificate (front and back). ....The system couldn't ID me so now I have been waiting several hours to do a "video verification." Problem is ....the system told me 2 hours, 36 minutes....went to 1 hour, 52 minutes, then up to 3 hours, 54 minutes....now I am at 1 hour; 59 minutes....

Edited January 21, 2022 by PGA
added info

[PGA 247]

22 minutes ago, PGA said:

OK...so out of curiosity, I uploaded my info...I'll probably regret that later.... So, it had me upload my full social security card, my US drivers license (front and back) and my birth certificate (front and back). ....The system couldn't ID me so now I have been waiting several hours to do a "video verification." Problem is ....the system told me 2 hours, 36 minutes....went to 1 hour, 52 minutes, then up to 3 hours, 54 minutes....now I am at 1 hour; 59 minutes....

Now my wait time is back up to 2 hours; 43 minutes... but I'm not worried.... I ordered my "free" Biden covid tests and masks....(we do know some sucker taxpayer pays for that, right?). I can't feed the family because of the crazy inflation but the tests and masks will certainly make me vote Democrat in November....

[millefleur 5,047]

This is a horrible idea. As a person who has already gone through identity theft, the moment a breech occurs, it'll be like a free-for-all on the black market of people selling your identity, they will have everything they need to do that. The risk-to-benefit scenario here is clearly way on the side of risk. Agree with TBone that it is shady, obviously someone is benefiting from this and it isn't the average tax payer, that is sure.

 

The webcam thing is also beyond idiotic. Not everyone has a high quality webcam and facial recognition technology has been show to be difficult to make foolproof. Tech dystopia just seems to get worse every day.