More Myrtle Beach tax fraud: Tax refunds, stimulus checks stolen from J-1 students
Three Bulgarian nationals face federal fraud charges, accused of stealing tax returns and pandemic stimulus checks from international student workers in an operation ran out of Myrtle Beach.
Authorities estimated that there are hundreds of victims of tax fraud and identity theft, with stolen refunds and checks totaling more than $500,000.
Donna Karakatsani, 48; Todor Milkov Stoenchev, 54; and Ivo Krasimirov Ivanov, 28, were arrested and booked into J. Reuben Long Detention Center Wednesday. They are charged with theft of public funds and wire fraud, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court. The three are family members, according to Assistant U.S. Attorney Derek Shoemake.
The charges are the result of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Department of State into a stolen identity fraud scheme in the Myrtle Beach area, according to the court filing.
The IRS criminal investigations unit was alerted of an incident report filed April 1, 2020 with the Horry County Police Department, the court document states. According to the incident report, Ivanov, who used Facebook to advertise his tax preparation services under the names IV Tax Service and IV Tax Prep, filed a false 1040 tax form in Myrtle Beach using personal information belonging to someone else.
The report stated a “couple of hundred” J-1 visa students were victims of tax fraud and identity theft carried out by Ivanov, who is Karakatsani’s son.
The charges come just a few days after U.S. Attorney for the District of South Carolina M. Rhett DeHart announced 12 convictions in a separate federal tax fraud case out of Myrtle Beach and Conway. DeHart’s office announced Tuesday that 12 owners and operators of construction companies pleaded guilty to hiring immigrants who entered the country illegally, paying them under the table and lying about providing workplace insurance.
Shoemake said there was no connection between the Bulgarian tax return fraud scheme and the operation involving the construction companies.
“Oddly enough, they’re not related to that tax case (announced Tuesday),” Shoemake said. “But it definitely shows how the IRS has been working hard in the region.”
Court documents related to the arrests of the three Bulgarian nationals state that Ivanov filed false 1040 tax forms with the IRS in other people’s names, as if the J-1 visa students were U.S. citizens. The person who made the Horry County police report said their tax refund and a $1,200 coronavirus stimulus check in their name were deposited into a bank account that did not belong to them.
The federal court document details Bulgarian police’s role in the investigation. A Bulgarian law enforcement agency that handles cyber crimes said they received 17 reports related to 33 complaints of tax fraud and identity theft. According to Bulgarian police, Ivanov and Karakatsani posed as tax preparers in order to cash federal tax refund checks. Via Facebook messenger, the two obtained W-2 forms and passport or visa photos from victims under the guise of using that the information to calculate tax refunds and a fee for tax return preparation.
Some of the victims ultimately chose someone else to prepare and file their tax returns, but were told that a tax return had already been filed with the IRS in their names.
The fraud victims, who lived in Bulgaria, were told that their tax refund checks were sent to Myrtle Beach, the filing states.
An IP address issued to Karakatsani was used to file 189 suspicious tax returns as of March 2019, according to court documents.
A P.O. box with a Myrtle Beach address rented by Karakatsani was linked 543 suspicious tax returns, the criminal complaint states. A P.O. box rented by Ivanov was linked to 174 suspicious tax returns.
Additionally, at least 68 accounts held at 16 banks in the names of 14 people were used to receive tax refunds and stimulus checks, according to the court documents. Bank records showed that between Feb. 6, 2019 and Jan. 4 2021, a total of more than $530,000 in tax refunds and stimulus checks were deposited into the accounts.
Between May 2019 and August 2020, more than $118,00 were deposited into bank accounts belonging to Stoenchev, who is Karakatsani’s husband, according to Shoemake.
The IRS interviewed seven Bulgarian nationals who traveled to the United States under a visa program, the criminal complaint states. The Bulgarian nationals all gave Ivanov their personal information via Facebook messenger. None of them ever received their federal tax returns or coronavirus stimulus checks.
Ivanov was booked into J. Reuben Long Detention Center about 9 a.m. Wednesday. Stoenchev and Karakatsani were booked into jail about 9:40 a.m. Karakatsani was released from jail that afternoon. Ivanov and Stoenchev remain incarcerated and their first court appearance is scheduled for Monday at the federal courthouse in Florence.
Karakatsani was released on bond with location monitoring because she has a child at home and there were no family members available to take care of the child, Shoemake said.
This story was originally published October 29, 2021 at 1:40 PM.
