If you have only one job and take the standard deduction, filing your taxes can be pretty simple. It’s so simple, in fact, that fraudsters are happy to do it for you, stealing your refund in the process. What happens to taxpayers who get stuck in this situation? Tax fraud is complicated, and sometimes they end up waiting for a very long time to get their money back.

How long? CNN profiled people who have been victims of tax refund fraud, including one retired accountant who normally doesn’t receive a refund at all and had almost $10,000 issued to a fraudster back in 2011. She had to wait to get her actual refund until January 2014, since such a large fraud led to a large investigation.

An IRS spokesperson explained to CNN that investigations take such a long time because the agency has had its budget cut and no longer has the resources to evaluate complicated fraud cases quickly. While they can take some measures like checking out returns that come from

Where does the information that fraudsters need to come from? Last year, hacks of payroll databases were a popular target and handy source of income data and personal information. One case targeted health care workers, and experts are now afraid that people whose personal information was stolen in the massive Anthem breach could also end up victims of tax fraud.

A hacker stole our $3,500 tax refund [CNN]

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