IF you worked for the IRs as you said that you did, you know just how impossible claiming payments you made under a fictitious name or with a stolen SS card would be.
Oh, yes I worked for that agency--you want to see my scars to prove it?
When an illegal buys a fake SS card from the proprietor of his local corner taco stand he is told the card and number are GOOD. What does the buyer know about SS cards--he's not from this country.
It is not impossible to get an income tax refund from a tax return filed with a purchased SSN. I saw it all the time. This scam would still work today if done correctly. All the illegal has to do is have the SSN of a real person, and use the same name, or a name that has the same first 4 letters of the last name, use a PO Box as an address, and file his phoney refund claiming tax return before the REAL owner of the SSN files his. The bogus return isn't detected until the second return (the real one) is filed. By that time the phoney has his refund check, cashed it, and is long gone. Saw it hundreds of times.