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State taking extra measures to protect identities this tax season

ATLANTA — You may have received a letter from the Georgia Department of Revenue asking you to verify your ID this tax season.

This is because tax fraud is on the rise and the Georgia Department of Revenue is implementing new security enhancements to help protect taxpayers.

Everyone files taxes, but those who receive a letter will be prompted to take a verification quiz online before they can gain access to their tax return money.

“If your registration info has changed from last year, you could be required to go online and answer several personal questions,” said Georgia Department of Revenue Special Investigations director Josh Waites.

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After you receive a letter from the Department of Revenue you should go to the website listed and answer the four security questions in under four minutes.

"The purpose is to help us make sure that the true taxpayer has actually filed the return and is going to receive that refund,” Waites said. “We’ve actually caught fraud because of it, so it's encouraging.”

Channel 2's Rikki Klaus spoke with a victim of tax fraud, Sylvia Booker who found out someone had committed tax fraud with her information in February.

When Booker and her husband filed their joint tax return via Turbo Tax, it was rejected and they received a message saying the tax return had already been filed.

The department is rolling out new security enhancements to help protect identities.

“It’s just extremely frustrating and worrying,” Booker said. “I get paranoid about where else is my Social Security number?”

"Criminals are getting smarter and so we have to do these things to stay one step ahead of them. These new tests are just a part of it," Waites told Klaus.

Last year the Georgia Department of Revenue blocked $98 million in fraud and Waites' Brookhaven office is trying to do everything it can to prevent sending tax dollars to fraudsters, especially after the Federal Trade Commission named Georgia as the second-worst state in the country for tax fraud.

"I know it might be a pain, and some people might not like it, but once you've had to go through this, it's definitely worth it,” Booker said, who agrees she would have been happy to answer any legitimate questions to prevent her current nightmare.

To protect yourself, Waites encourages everyone go to create a Georgia Tax Center account, which will alert you when officials receive a tax return in your name.