Stay Alert With Athene’s Financial Crime Programs
Our goal is to provide valuable information on an ongoing basis that can help in your efforts to prevent, detect and combat financial crime. These resources can help you understand your obligations.
Anti-Fraud: Beware of tax-related identity theft
Tax-related identity theft occurs when someone uses stolen personal information, such as a Social Security number, to file a fraudulent tax return and claim a refund. Because clients may not be aware they are a victim unless the IRS notifies them of a possible issue, it’s important to beware of potential alerts, especially during tax filing season.
Potential tax-related identity theft alerts include:
- Receiving a letter from the IRS inquiring about a suspicious tax return that you or your client did not file.
- Inability to e-file a tax return because of a duplicate Social Security number.
- Receiving a tax transcript in the mail that was not requested.
- Receiving an IRS notice that an online account has been created in your client’s name.
- Receiving an IRS notice that an existing online account has been accessed or disabled when no action was taken.
- Receiving an IRS notice indicating that additional tax or refund offset is owed, or that collection actions have been taken for a year in which a tax return was not filed.
- IRS records indicate that wages or other income were received from an employer your client didn’t work for.
- An Employer Identification Number has been assigned but was not requested.
If you suspect your client may have been a victim of tax-related identity theft, please contact the Compliance Department at AMLFraudReferral@athene.com.
For additional information go to IRS.gov or FTC.gov.
Anti-Money Laundering (AML): Current residential addresses required for non-entity applicants
Athene uses software to confirm and validate Know Your Customer (KYC) information. Recently, our Compliance Department has noticed an increase in applications where the applicant has used a business address or unverifiable address as the address of record.
While a non-entity applicant may provide a secondary address for his/her business, their current residential address must be provided as the address of record for the contract to be issued.
Under Section 326 of the USA PATRIOT Act, financial institutions must obtain the name, (current) residential address/physical address (if an entity), date of birth and social security number of each individual or entity wishing to purchase an annuity contract.
For additional information regarding AML and KYC matters, please refer to the Doing Business with Athene Producer Guide.
Questions or concerns?
When you suspect money laundering, please report the event to our Compliance department by emailing us at: AMLFraudReferral@athene.com.