Is an identity thief filing your taxes?

Unless you happen to be a 10-year-old reading this, I probably don't need to tell any of you not to share your social security number with anyone.

But here's yet another good reason to hang onto it: Double tax filing appears to be on the rise.

Double filing is the term used for filing your taxes twice. Happens to me all the time. It's just so much fun doing my taxes that first time, that sometimes I'll forget and just do them again.

Obviously, even the most absent-minded taxpayer isn't likely to do that, but it does happen, because some crooks, once they get someone's social security number, aren't content to ruin someone's life by taking out credit cards in that person's name. No, they have to do something really heinous like filing for that person's taxes and trying to collect a refund. Naturally, they rig the numbers so that they'll be sure to get a refund. And then when the real person files their taxes, they, of course, get a very unpleasant surprise.