I don’t have time for this. Gotham is crawling with criminals. The Justice League is short-handed. And now, I find out that Cyborg got caught up in a tax scam.

Yes, Cyborg. A literal supercomputer. The man who can hack satellites, override government firewalls, and access classified data in nanoseconds. Somehow, he still fell for one of the oldest scams in the book.

I thought he was smarter than this. Apparently, I was wrong.

How It Happened

It started with an email. A very obvious phishing email. Something about a “special government refund” he qualified for, promising a huge tax return if he just “verified” his information.

Instead of deleting it like any rational person, he clicked.

• He entered his Social Security number.

• He entered his bank details.

• He even uploaded a scan of his ID.

By the time he realized what was happening, his refund had already been stolen. The scammers rerouted it to an offshore account, leaving him with a frozen bank account and an IRS investigation.

I found out when he called me, panicked, because the government locked his credit.

Now He’s in Trouble

Here’s what he’s dealing with:

• Identity Theft – The scammers now have his personal data, and they’re already opening fake accounts in his name.

• Fraudulent Tax Filing – Someone else filed a return in his name before he did. Now the IRS thinks he’s the fraud.

• Bank Account Lockdown – His funds are frozen while everything gets sorted out, which means he can’t access his own money.

• IRS Investigation – Because of the fraudulent return, he’s being audited. If he doesn’t prove he was scammed, he could be liable for money he never even received.

What We’re Doing to Fix It

Now, instead of focusing on actual threats, I’m dealing with Cyborg’s financial mess. Here’s what I told him to do:

1. Report the Fraud – The IRS has a form (of course they do). Form 14039, Identity Theft Affidavit. Filing this tells the government that someone else stole his info.

2. Freeze His Credit – The scammers will try to open loans in his name. We locked his credit immediately.

3. Get a New Taxpayer PIN – The IRS assigns a special code to prevent identity theft victims from getting hit again.

4. File an Amended Return – If he ever wants to see his refund, he has to go through months of IRS bureaucracy.

5. Never Click on Random Emails Again.

Final Thoughts

Cyborg is one of the smartest people I know. He can process terabytes of data in seconds. But somehow, he fell for the same scam that tricks grandmothers.

Let this be a warning: No one is safe from tax scams. Not even superheroes.

And now, I have to add “fraud prevention training” to the next Justice League meeting. I hate this job.