MARTINSBURG, WEST VIRGINIA - Juan David Moreno, of Miramar, Florida, was sentenced today to 36 months of incarceration for wire fraud and aggravated identity theft charges, Acting U.S. Attorney Randolph J. Bernard announced.
In February 2020, Moreno, age 34, pled guilty to one count of “Wire Fraud" and one count of “Aggravated Identity Theft." Moreno admitted to fraudulently accessing the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) eAuthentication online taxpayer system, which has servers located in Berkeley County, from January 2015 to February 2017. Through his scheme to defraud, Moreno obtained personal identifying information of taxpayers without their knowledge to access the online taxpayer system and obtain income tax transcripts for those taxpayers. Moreno then filed tax returns and directed tax refunds in the amount of at least $86,525 be deposited into fraudulent bank accounts without the taxpayers’ knowledge. Moreno was responsible for filing fraudulent tax returns in the names of taxpayers located in various states, including Florida, Texas, and California.
The investigation revealed that Moreno attempted to obtain at least $389,198 in additional fraudulent tax refunds from the IRS but was unsuccessful. Moreno was also found to be in unlawful possession of over 2,600 unique identities, including social security numbers and dates of birth, of other individuals.
In addition to his sentence of incarceration, Moreno was also ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $86,525 to the IRS.
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.
Chief U.S. District Judge Gina M. Groh presided.
Source: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the United States Attorneys
