My daughter is in jail and her step-sister spent her stimulus money. Police refuse to help!

[JLAVG]

The children currently live with me. I'm not sure if she had renters insurance but, wouldn't the insurance company require her to file a theft report before they would pay any claim? The guards & police at the jail have been very uncooperative and it took me over a month to get the proper power of attorney paperwork from my daughter. Once I had that paperwork I was able to get access to her bank account and discovered the money was gone. The bank provided info as to when & where the debit card was used and, with that information, we figured out that it had to be her step sister who had used the card. Some of my daughter's friends, who are also friends with the step-sister, have confirmed that she made some expensive purchases back in January and that she has my daughters lap top and has been seen wearing some if her jewelry. And, NO, my daughter does not have a attorney at this time. We were planning to use the money she had in the bank to hire one but...

 

[quincy]

The children currently live with me. I'm not sure if she had renters insurance but, wouldn't the insurance company require her to file a theft report before they would pay any claim? The guards & police at the jail have been very uncooperative and it took me over a month to get the proper power of attorney paperwork from my daughter. Once I had that paperwork I was able to get access to her bank account and discovered the money was gone. The bank provided info as to when & where the debit card was used and, with that information, we figured out that it had to be her step sister who had used the card. Some of my daughter's friends, who are also friends with the step-sister, have confirmed that she made some expensive purchases back in January and that she has my daughters lap top and has been seen wearing some if her jewelry. And, NO, my daughter does not have a attorney at this time. We were planning to use the money she had in the bank to hire one but...

Thank you for answering our questions.

If your daughter has renter’s insurance, she can report the theft to her insurer. She again should try (or you could try) to report the theft to the police in the city where the theft occurred.

For the missing stimulus money, she will need to contact the IRS and request the IRS perform a payment trace, this if when she uses the IRS “Get My Payment” tool it shows that the payment to her was made.

Here is a link to IRS information on lost or stolen stimulus money:
https://sa.www4.irs.gov/irfof/lang/en/irtrconlinehelp.jsp

 

[Taxing Matters]

Here is a link to IRS information on lost or stolen stimulus money:
https://sa.www4.irs.gov/irfof/lang/en/irtrconlinehelp.jsp

That page is extremely old; check out the references to Netscape 7.0 and IE 6.0. Both these browsers were replaced by newer versions by 2006 — 15 years ago. Some of the information on it is still good, but a lot of things have changed since, then in particular the fact that most refunds are now direct deposited, as in the case here. And that's a problem because the payment did make it to the proper bank account, so the taxpayer did receive the refund and the IRS isn't likely to replace it. After the taxpayer received it, the step-sister took money out the account with a debit card, which is not specifically theft of the refund but certainly is theft of the sister's bank funds. It's very much like a situation where a taxpayer indorses and deposits a paper refund check and then someone uses a debit card to steal from the account. The government would not replace that refund check either. There's no harm in trying, but I wouldn't hold my breath on a replacement refund here.

 

[quincy]

That page is extremely old; check out the references to Netscape 7.0 and IE 6.0. Both these browsers were replaced by newer versions by 2006 — 15 years ago. Some of the information on it is still good, but a lot of things have changed since, then in particular the fact that most refunds are now direct deposited, as in the case here. And that's a problem because the payment did make it to the proper bank account, so the taxpayer did receive the refund and the IRS isn't likely to replace it. After the taxpayer received it, the step-sister took money out the account with a debit card, which is not specifically theft of the refund but certainly is theft of the sister's bank funds. It's very much like a situation where a taxpayer indorses and deposits a paper refund check and then someone uses a debit card to steal from the account. The government would not replace that refund check either. There's no harm in trying, but I wouldn't hold my breath on a replacement refund here.

The IRS has said a check or card or deposit generally will not be reissued but the (lost/stolen/missing) amount can be claimed as a “recovery credit” on the tax return.

Here is a better link:

https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus

 

[Taxing Matters]

The IRS has said a check or card or deposit generally will not be reissued but the (lost/stolen/missing) amount can be claimed as a “recovery credit” on the tax return.

The link you provided states only that a stimulus payment that was never sent to the taxpayer but that the taxpayer was eligible to receive may be claimed on the tax return as a credit. That is not the case here — the taxpayer did get it, the payment went into the bank account she designated. After it was received money was stolen from that account, and in my experience working for and dealing with the IRS, that problem falls on the taxpayer. That is not situation described on that page.

 

[quincy]

The link you provided states only that a stimulus payment that was never sent to the taxpayer but that the taxpayer was eligible to receive may be claimed on the tax return as a credit. That is not the case here — the taxpayer did get it, the payment went into the bank account she designated. After it was received money was stolen from that account, and in my experience working for and dealing with the IRS, that problem falls on the taxpayer. That is not situation described on that page.

The daughter/JLAVG only think the stepsister stole the economic relief money. Theft of mailed checks and cards is not, unfortunately, rare. That is why it is best to have money directly deposited into your bank account.

The IRS will perform a payment trace to first see if the payment was issued - and a recovery rebate credit could be claimed on the daughter’s tax return if it is determined a mailed check or card was lost or stolen.

Now, if the IRS money WAS directly deposited into the daughter’s account and the “card” that was used to withdraw the money from the bank account was the daughter’s own bank debit card and not the card issued by the IRS, the bank card should be canceled and the PIN number changed so that it cannot be used again. And a fraud alert should be placed with her bank and with all three credit reporting agencies.

The police, too, should have a report of the theft along with a list of the items missing from the daughter’s apartment.

The insurance agent can be contacted, if the property was insured, and a similar list of stolen items submitted.

As it apparently stands right now, JLAVG and her daughter do not know that the stepsister stole anything. They only suspect her.

 

[Taxing Matters]

As it apparently stands right now, JLAVG and her daughter do not know that the stepsister stole anything. They only suspect her.

That is indeed a hurdle here. It's hard to verify what's happening on the outside when you're doing time in jail or prison. And without more solid evidence of what occurred it may be hard to recover whatever is missing.

 

[stealth2]

Has anyone contacted the bank where the account is?

 

[quincy]

Has anyone contacted the bank where the account is?

I am still curious whether it was an IRS-issued debit card that was used or the daughter’s bank account debit card ...

 

[Zigner]

I am still curious whether it was an IRS-issued debit card that was used or the daughter’s bank account debit card ...

The OP stated that, after obtaining the POA, s/he worked with the bank to gather info on where the card was used. The bank wouldn't have info on an IRS-issued debit card.

EDIT: This also explains why the IRS won't be involved in this. The funds were already received by the jailbird sister when this happened. The person's bank debit card was used to improperly access funds in the bank account which, coincidentally, included funds from the stimulus payment.

 

[quincy]

The OP stated that, after obtaining the POA, s/he worked with the bank to gather info on where the card was used. The bank wouldn't have info on an IRS-issued debit card.

EDIT: This also explains why the IRS won't be involved in this. The funds were already received by the jailbird sister when this happened. The person's bank debit card was used to improperly access funds in the bank account which, coincidentally, included funds from the stimulus payment.

I guess the whole situation just confuses me. Haha.

 

[JLAVG]

The $1800 was directly deposited into my daughters bank account. Her step-sister obtained her bank debit card when she stole the purse. She spent a total of around $3000 from my daughter's account.

My co-worker recommended that I contact the Indiana State Police and the State's Attorney's office about the local police refusing to investigate a crime against my daughter because she is a inmate. Is that a viable option that might get results or would I be wasting my time?

 

[quincy]

The $1800 was directly deposited into my daughters bank account. Her step-sister obtained her bank debit card when she stole the purse. She spent a total of around $3000 from my daughter's account.

My co-worker recommended that I contact the Indiana State Police and the State's Attorney's office about the local police refusing to investigate a crime against my daughter because she is a inmate. Is that a viable option that might get results or would I be wasting my time?

Thank you for the clarification. I obviously was reading your posts wrong. Sorry.

If the local police will not accept a theft report from your daughter, she could report the theft of her items to the state police. There is no way to force either the local police or the state police to investigate the theft, however.

Did you check on the renters insurance?

Has your daughter contacted her bank and the credit reporting agencies to post fraud alerts on her accounts? Has she canceled the bank card and changed her PIN?

How long before your daughter is released? She can sue her stepsister to recover her losses once she is out of jail/prison, but she will want good evidence that the stepsister is the one who stole her property.