Diep Vo, Identity Theft, California 2017

A San Jose resident has pleaded guilty to stealing homeless individuals’ IDs and using them to seek fraudulent tax refunds, announced U.S. Attorney Brian J. Stretch and Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Stuart M. Goldberg.

Diep Vo, 74, of San Jose, conspired with codefendant Trong Nguyen to use the personal information of people, including homeless people in the San Jose Vietnamese community, to file fraudulent claims for refunds with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

According to documents and information provided to the court, Vo went to homeless shelters and halfway houses and falsely represented to individuals that she could get them money from a government program designed to assist people who had not worked in previous years. Vo convinced people to write down their names and social security numbers and to sign blank income tax returns.

Vo and Nguyen then falsified the signed returns by including bogus income and income tax withheld amounts and sought fraudulent refunds from the IRS. Vo and Nguyen directed the IRS to send the refund checks to private mailboxes they controlled.

Pursuant to her plea, Vo pleaded guilty to all counts, including conspiring to file false claims for tax refunds, submitting false claims for tax refunds, mail fraud, and aggravated identity theft.

Vo faces a statutory maximum sentence of five years in prison for each count of conspiring to file false claims and submitting false claims for refund, 20 years in prison for each count of mail fraud, and a mandatory minimum sentence of two years in prison for aggravated identity theft.

Vo’s sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 14, 2017.

Nguyen previously pleaded guilty to submitting and conspiring to submit false claims for refund.

U.S. Attorney Stretch and Acting Deputy Assistant Attorney General Goldberg thanked Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas Newman and Trial Attorney Gregory Bernstein for their work on the case.

The special agents of IRS Criminal Investigation who conducted the investigation also deserve recognition for their efforts in bringing this case to justice.

Related Federal Cases