were trying to rip off the irs and collect your tax dollars. even worse, it was all happening all over the nation and going on for decades. unnoticed. john zarrella is live in miami with part one of our series scammed. how do they get away with it, john? you wouldn t believe this. just last week in tennessee, a grand jury now we re talking tennessee indicted a former inmate for allegedly trying to defraud the united states government. he filed, according to the government, 88 tax returns to the tune of $58 million. it was the exact same scam that we first reported that was being run out of the jail in key west. just a routine search of a jail cell. officer mark linback didn t expect to find much. after the inmates exit the cell, went over, basically pulled up the mattress. he had some of the items under his mattress.
additional items were underneath the bunk. reporter: the items tax forms, an address book with social security numbers, birthdays and cheat sheets for filling out returns. that was december of 2006. what linback had stumbled upon was a lucrative income tax fraud scheme run by inmates at the monroe county jail near key west. before they were busted, the inmates filed for more than $1 million in tax refunds involving half the jail population. but what they would do is go to other inmates and suggest to an inmate, i can get you $4,500 in a tax return, it will cost you $500. reporter: in some cases, with the help of friends and family, the prisoners would fill out the 1040-ez short form, then attach the form with the names of businesses that didn t exist, and income they never earned. the 4852 is a substitute used when an employer doesn t provide a w-2. the additional investigation was