Associated Press

ATLANTA, Georgia -- When Jason Smith contacted the Internal Revenue Service to find out why his $600 tax refund hadn’t arrived, he received a nasty surprise: The government was waiting for him to pony up $12,000 in back taxes.

As it turned out, the Danielsville, Ga., man was not to blame. Another ‘‘Jason Smith’’ racked up the unpaid taxes. An illegal immigrant named Nohe Gomez Hernandez had used Smith’s Social Security number to get a job at a chicken plant in Bethlehem, Ga., and worked there under that false name for at least three years, long enough to be promoted from line worker to supervisor.

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