Info On More Than 100K Taxpayers Stolen In IRS Data Breach

(CBS) -- What should be one of the most trusted sites containing your Social Security number, birthdate, and financial information has been hacked.

The IRS may be contacting you and more than 100,000 taxpayers with a warning your information was stolen.

CBS 2's Dana Kozlov tells us how thieves pulled it off, and what you should do now.

"There are bandits trying that to separate you from your money," said Governors State professor William Kresse.

And this time, the IRS says those faceless, nameless bandits stole the information of a 104,000 people through its 'get transcript' system.

"We're not exactly sure who they are," Kresse said. "But they seem to be compiling this information into databases where they can use those individual files to conduct identity thefts against Americans."

Like professor Kresse, an IRS spokesperson says the thieves are not amateurs and able to clear security screens to get all kinds of taxpayer's personal information. Once alerted to the 200,000 attempts and subsequent breach, the IRS shut down the transcript system.

It's in the process of contacting victims. Kresse says they'll do it by mail, not by phone or email.

"If you receive such an email, delete immediately, it's spam," Kresse said.

In the meantime, Kresse says it's a good idea for everyone to monitor they're credit reports, bank and credit card statements.

Kresse says people should really do that every morning and if there's an issue, report it immediately.

The IRS says this time, less than $50 million were stolen, but $50 million is still $50 million.