What's behind this surge in fraud? Experts credit two reasons: automation and the role of tax departments. First, technology has taken some of the pain out of filing tax returns, thanks to sophisticated tax preparation software programs. But it has also made it easier for fraudsters to submit fake returns at the push of a button. Gone are the days when government workers would fan through paper returns, looking for similar handwriting styles. Today, tax thieves can create one fraudulent return, then change a few data elements and resubmit over and over, making it much more difficult to detect fraud in a computer-generated return.