H&R Block, Meta, and Google Slapped With RICO Suit, Allegedly Schemed to Scrape Taxpayer Data (gizmodo.com) 31
Anyone who has used H&R Block's tax return preparation services since 2015 "may have unintentionally helped line Meta and Google's pocket," reports Gizmodo:
That's according to a new class action lawsuit which alleges the three companies "jointly schemed" to install trackers on the H&R Block site to scan and transmit tax data back to the tech companies which then used elements of the data to engage in targeted advertising.
Attorneys bringing the case forward claim the three companies' conduct amounts to a "pattern of racketeering activity" covered under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a tool typically reserved for organized crime. "H&R Block, Google, and Meta ignored data privacy laws, and passed information about people's financial lives around like candy," Brent Wisner, one of the attorneys bringing forward the complaint said.
The lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of California this week, stems from a bombshell Congressional report released earlier this year detailing the way multiple tax preparation firms, including H&R Block, "recklessly" shared the sensitive tax data of tens of millions of Americans without proper safeguards. At issue are the tax preparation firms' use of tracking "pixels" placed on their websites. These trackers, which the lawsuit refers to as "spy cams" would allegedly scan tax documents and reveal a variety of personal tax information, including a filer's name, filing status, federal taxes owed, address, and number of dependents. That data was then anonymized and used for targeted advertising and to train Meta's AI algorithms, the congressional report notes.
The attorneys argue that H&R Block, Meta, and Google "explicitly and intentionally" entered into an agreement to violate taxpayers' privacy rights for financial gain, according to the article. The suit seeks refunds and punitive damages.
Attorneys bringing the case forward claim the three companies' conduct amounts to a "pattern of racketeering activity" covered under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), a tool typically reserved for organized crime. "H&R Block, Google, and Meta ignored data privacy laws, and passed information about people's financial lives around like candy," Brent Wisner, one of the attorneys bringing forward the complaint said.
The lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of California this week, stems from a bombshell Congressional report released earlier this year detailing the way multiple tax preparation firms, including H&R Block, "recklessly" shared the sensitive tax data of tens of millions of Americans without proper safeguards. At issue are the tax preparation firms' use of tracking "pixels" placed on their websites. These trackers, which the lawsuit refers to as "spy cams" would allegedly scan tax documents and reveal a variety of personal tax information, including a filer's name, filing status, federal taxes owed, address, and number of dependents. That data was then anonymized and used for targeted advertising and to train Meta's AI algorithms, the congressional report notes.
The attorneys argue that H&R Block, Meta, and Google "explicitly and intentionally" entered into an agreement to violate taxpayers' privacy rights for financial gain, according to the article. The suit seeks refunds and punitive damages.
Return the favor. (Score:2, Interesting)
For all those corporations who feel they can collect every minute detail of our lives and assume it's for sale to both the lowest and highest bidders, I have a better idea. Research every company that engages in that in the worst way, and doxx the fuck out of every member of senior management.
Including their children. Not like ours are off limits. If you can't beat 'em, fuck 'em at their own game.
- Sick N. Tired
Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Peace of mind (Score:2, Flamebait)
This feels like a good moment to remind people that the vast majority of American taxpayers have simple W-2 only returns they can file themselves without assistance from these parasites. I'll again call out Congress for not empowering the IRS to simply mail these taxpayers a pre-filled return they could simply sign and accept. They already have all of the relevant information.
If you’re in the minority that does not have a W-2 only return, you’re likely part of the educated professional class, which means you can do it yourself in a few hours at most.
Been there, done that. Got the audit.
The problem with US tax filings is that it's so goddam complicated that the H&R Block employees sometimes can't keep up with the changes.
H&R Block fills out my forms *correctly*, and if it turns out to be incorrect they pay all interest and penalties. I'm still liable for the tax I would have owed, but don't have to worry about anything else. Also, if the IRS sees the preparer was H&R Block, they are less likely to do an audit.
If you're one of the many, many
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It's effectively IRS insurance
The Terms & Conditions [hrblock.com] (PDF warning) for their paid "audit support product" make it clear that they are not providing you with legal representation:
If your return is audited, Block will make available an agent (but not an attorney) to represent you before the tax authority...
I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice... but if you receive a notice from the IRS, and they want to "discuss" or modify your tax returns, you should obtain legal representation right away.
The IRS is attempting to create its own free-file system [slashdot.org] independently of Intuit et. al. While it probably won't be useful for every tax situation, it may help lo
Re:Peace of mind (Score:4, Informative)
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He didn't say they would be your lawyer in case of criminal malfeasance or omission of your income and assets to H&R Block, he said they would pay any interest and penalties. So assuming you provided everything to them and aren't engaged in a criminal enterprise(although the IRS generally wouldn't come after you if you were, at most they would just forward the criminality to the relevant authorities and even then they tend not to unless a specific agency requests information about you) they pay for any
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at most they would just forward the criminality to the relevant authorities
Fun fact, the IRS will do it's BEST to not tell any other agencies that you're doing illegal stuff if the only evidence is your tax returns and you're paying the relevant taxes. They make it tough even with a warrant.
https://www.irs.gov/government... [irs.gov]
https://taxfoundation.org/blog... [taxfoundation.org]
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So the problem is an over complicated tax system that you fix with insurance?
We are supposed to be the most educated generation and yet we keep repeating all the mistakes from the past. We just complicate them a lot more today.
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Very true.
if you use the H&R Block software on your PC (I know, how yesterday is that), AND YOU FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS at every step, then you are very unlikely to hear to hear from the IRS.
And if you rush through the on-screen prompts, don't read your tax documents carefully, or you misplaced some of that tax paperwork, I can assure you that the IRS will contact you. Might not be this or next, but they WILL GET AROUND TO YOU.
Never forget in USA, not only you get a copy of important tax papers but the IR
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86,852 new full-time employees, many of the new hires will be replacing staff over the next 10 years. 4000 have already been hired, they were customer service reps. Just quit it with the scare tactics already.
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If you’re in the minority that does not have a W-2 only return, you’re likely part of the educated professional class, which means you can do it yourself in a few hours at most.
The gig economy would like to have a talk with you...
All those Uber drivers, grubhub, and all that are contractors, get a 1099 and not a W-2.
And while most people do get a W-2, I wasn't able to find statistics on how many ONLY had a W-2. For example, when I was enlisted in the Air Force, I'd usually get at least two 1099s.
It doesn't take that much in a savings account or investment to get 1099'd.
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I do my own taxes, I know exactly how hard 1099s are. However, you have shown no proof that most returns are w-2 only.
Also, I didn't specify difficulty of 1099s, more that you don't have any real proof that most people getting 1099 forms are that much more educated, what with the gig economy creating millions of 1099 contractors where the highest certification required is a driver's license.
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This feels like a good moment to remind people that the vast majority of American taxpayers have simple W-2 only returns they can file themselves without assistance from these parasites. I'll again call out Congress for not empowering the IRS to simply mail these taxpayers a pre-filled return they could simply sign and accept. They already have all of the relevant information.
If you’re in the minority that does not have a W-2 only return, you’re likely part of the educated professional class, which means you can do it yourself in a few hours at most.
If you’re in the extreme minority of a minority that has a situation so complex you need an actual tax professional, H&R Block and TurboTax aren’t for you anyway, because no human is involved in any role more complicated than data entry clerk.
Fuck this entire parasitic industry and fuck Google and Meta for getting into bed with them. I hope they all lose millions and some US Attorney looking to make a name for themselves finds the probable Federal felonies here and sends some people to jail.
Taxes are not just federal, it is also state, county, city etc. City taxes are especially bad because there are a lot of predatory and parasitic companies that cities hire that add high fees and penalties if you mess up even a little bit.
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This feels like a good moment to remind people that the vast majority of American taxpayers have simple W-2 only returns they can file themselves without assistance from these parasites.
I've had good luck using FreeTaxUSA [pcmag.com], even though I usually need a few extra forms. Filing the federal return is literally free, and a state return is $14.95.
A moral dilemma (Score:2)
Which group do I despise more? (a) Class action law firms; (b) Data scrapers
Is there a way that Meta, Google/Alphabet and H&R Block have to pay, but the law firm only gets actual expenses, rather than the "percentage cut" of the class action settlement?
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From my POV this is on the site developers to write their sites in such a way that they don't share any sensitive stuff. My contract, such as it is, is with Intuit (or whoever owns TT now). (that said i also still use the downloaded product rather than the web version and hope it continues to be available)
Data scraping is something society generally accepts at some level, though i hope that level becomes "less". But what's being described in the suit mostly sounds like just the state of the market and
Re: A moral dilemma (Score:2)
Load Slashdot without protection and see how many trackers are on this bitch. Or load it with protection and see how many requests it blocks when you leave a window idle for a day... hundreds to thousands.
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Probably not. That would require a non-corrupted legal system, in particular a not profit oriented one (profit-oriented ones always gets corrupted due to perverted incentives). The US does not seem to have one of those.
This is only the website, right? (Score:2)
I've used the H&R Block Windows software, purchased from Amazon, for several years. I don't think there's tracking pixels in the Windows software. Probably not for in-person appointments either.
This is probably only for people who did their taxes on the website, possibly because of potentially dubious promises of free tax filing.
Criminal Indictments (Score:2, Flamebait)
The system is structured so that responsible individuals running corporations are completely isolated from any personal consequences. Fines are joke.They rarely exceed a few million dollars, and when a company is valued at billions it literally doesn't matter. Eve
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I completely agree. As long as the decision makers are not held personally and criminally accountable for illegal stuff, there is no chance of it ending. The profit margins of some illegal activities are just too high and the respective enterprises do not mind too much paying some token fines.
Assumptions (Score:3)
>"The attorneys argue that H&R Block, Meta, and Google "explicitly and intentionally" entered into an agreement to violate taxpayers' privacy rights for financial gain, according to the article."
The sad thing is that I always ASSUMED this stuff is happening all over the place. I bet a lot of people here assumed it as well. I didn't need proof- there is an incentive to do slimy things, and that demand will be met. It is one reason I refuse to use any tax service.
And when all is said and done, all that will likely change is that they will insert some legal-mumbo-jumbo into their 20 pages of fine-print crap that you have to click through to "continue."
The current scam is every company trying desperately to force you to disclose your "mobile phone number." Of course they need it for security, right? Nope. They just want to text the hell out of you and also sell that info to other "related" entities. Example, I tried to set up a simple vaccination appointment on-line with Kroger for my mother a few days ago. Spent a lot of time filling out useless info that they already knew, and then it all came to a halt at the end because they "had" to have a mobile number. I finally just closed the browser and called them and they said- no problem, just come in. I bet 90% of people would have just blindly handed them their mobile numbers.
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I bet 90% of people would have just blindly handed them their mobile numbers
Umm, unless you used a caller ID blocker, this is exactly what they received the moment you called them.
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>"Umm, unless you used a caller ID blocker, this is exactly what they received the moment you called them."
1) It was a land line :)
2) I was, indeed, using a caller ID blocker
Besides, calling a local store, I doubt the number would be collected like it would if I were calling "headquarters", of course, can't know for sure. Even then, they don't know it is actually my number.
Need a simpler tax system (Score:2)
Federal income tax complexity has gotten completely out of control, and the 1099-K is only making things worse. Nobody should need these tax prep services.
I'll be dammed if I pay over $100 to file my taxes (Score:2)