The refunds were re-directed simply by written letters to tax offices "informing" them that the rightful recipients' bank account had changed.
Police say the suspects acquired the victims' personal information by stealing their mail. They then used the information to fill out official change-of-bank-account forms. Once the tax refunds arrived in the criminals' bank accounts, the money was re-directed to foreign bank accounts.
"This kind of identity theft isn't necessarily very common yet, but there's a feeling that they will become more common," says police inspector Juha Junkkari.
The suspects changed bank account information for 40 individuals, but the Tax Administration says that only 21 tax refunds were misdirected. The Administration now says that they will reform its policy on changing account information, and recommend that taxpayers use their online services to do so.
The Tax Administration has also paid out all the refunds to those who were victimized by the identity thieves. The government got some of its money back from the swindlers, because police quickly froze their bank accounts once the scam was revealed.