Green Dot Prepaid Debit Card Fraud Relating to Fraudulent Tax Filings – Class Action Investigation

Green Dot Prepaid Debit Card Fraud Relating to Fraudulent Tax Filings – Class Action Investigation

Chimicles & Tikellis LLP (“C&T”) is considering a potential class action lawsuit against Green Dot Corporation (“Green Dot”) relating to the company’s prepaid debit card products. Specifically, C&T is investigating whether Green Dot’s security and privacy protocols at the point of opening a new prepaid debit card account fall short of a minimum standard of care owed to potential identity theft victims and/or are in violation of state and federal law.

Fraudsters routinely use Green Dot prepaid debit cards as the delivery vehicle for stolen tax refund monies obtained from fraudulently filed tax returns. After filing a fraudulent tax return in a victim’s name, the fraudster uses the victim’s sensitive information (e.g. address, date of birth, Social Security number) to open a Green Dot prepaid debit card account. The Green Dot account is then linked to or used with tax e-filing software as the depository for the fraudulently obtained federal tax refund dollars. Reports indicate that many identity theft victims have the same unexpected experience with Green Dot’s prepaid card: the fraud victim receives a prepaid debit card in the mail from Green Dot with instructions for card activation when, in reality, the victim actually never signed up for a Green Dot account. Once the fraudulently obtained tax refund is issued by the IRS, it is loaded onto the Green Dot account and the fraudster has unfettered access to the account balance despite the fact that the inactive debit card is mailed to the victim.

If you have experienced identity theft involving a Green Dot prepaid debit card or have unexpectedly received a Green Dot prepaid debit card in the mail, please contact us using the link on this page.

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Attorneys for this case:

Nicholas E. Chimicles