21-year-old watches stimulus check deposit into wrong bank account after identify theft

WYANDOTTE, Mich. (FOX 2) - A Wyandotte woman's taxes, credit and even stimulus check are now in the hands of a thief - and the pandemic has made fixing the problem even harder. 

"I'm 21, I'm trying to buy a house, I'm trying to get everything in order. So that's a big setback. I know this is something that's going to follow me for years."

Alyssa Graff is frustrated after she says someone got personal information from a previous employer and stole her identity back in February. It's a headache Graff tried to resolve a few days before the stay-at-home order, when the IRS confirmed someone else filed her taxes. 

"From there I started to take the steps to file for identity theft but due to the stay-at-home order, all the IRS offices had closed. So because of that my issue still goes unresolved," she said. 

Graff says someone also took out a credit card in her name and messed up her credit, making matters worse when it came time for stimulus checks.

"I keep going on the IRS [website] to check to see when your stimulus check is coming, it said mine was coming April 15. It was super exciting until I saw someone else's bank account. I can't change anything. It doesn't allow me to change anything because my taxes were filed - just not by me - so I can't get in touch with anyone to get that resolved either."

Graff called the police. They say they're gathering information for an investigation and are also waiting on documents from the IRS. 

Meanwhile, Graff's former employer paid to have her credit monitored for a year. Now she's hoping this is one headache that will go away soon. 

"Just pay attention, too. Keep an eye on your credit, you never know. I know I'm not the only person if you're not keeping an eye on it regularly. It could happen in the blink of an eye."

We reached out to the IRS and got the same voicemail about the offices being closed.