Queens resident received $ 1,4 million from tax using fake ID

A Queens man was arrested for using a number of fake IDs, including in the names of some relatives, to trick the tax service into sending him approximately 1,4 million dollars.

Zahiril Reday from Woodside used at least eight names. Some belonged to family members who left the United States. He opened credit cards in their names to intentionally overpay his federal taxes from at least 2013 onwards, according to a criminal lawsuit.

The tax office then sent U.S. Treasury checks to refund the overpaid amounts that it transferred to its bank accounts, the lawsuit said.

One of the names he used, Mohammad Hossein, became fatal back in 2011, when staff at the State Department of Motor Vehicles realized that Raeay had used Hossein's identity eight years ago to obtain a driver’s license.

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The Department of Vehicles could not file criminal charges because the statute of limitations had expired, but government officials had opened an administrative case and forced him to admit that he had made false statements.

Despite this, Reday continued to use Hossein's name to open a credit card, with which he made at least 20 payments.

When federal agents raided his apartment, they discovered an unpaid check worth more than 57 000 dollars, as well as cash in the amount of 40 000 dollars, about 375 credit cards with different names and two unlicensed guns, say the feds.