Homebuyer tax credit abuse

CHICOPEE, Mass. (WWLP) - It's your money and we're watching it..

The government spent billions of dollars to get the housing market back on its feet through the first time home buyer program.

But, according to a report, a lot of your money may have ended up in greedy pockets.

The government dished out billions of your dollars in order to stimulate the housing market by offering an incentive to first time homebuyers.

An up to $8,000 tax credit that millions of people took advantage of. "One neighbor on our street did use that program to buy his house and I'm glad," said Paul Riendeau, Springfield.

But it hasn't exactly been a win-win situation.

According to a report by the Treasury Department Inspector General, millions of dollars were wrongfully awarded.

A good portion went to prisoners; more then 200 of them serving life sentences.

It doesn't end there. To get the credit you had to buy a home after April 8, 2008. But, according to the report, thousands of people applied for the credit who bought before that date.

Here's another startling find, there were 256 filings for only five property sales.

CPA attorney at law, Paul Mancinone calls the findings startling. "When an 8,000 dollar potential credit comes out, I'm not surprised at these antics. 256 using 5 addresses, I must admit, I wasn't expecting to see that," Mancinone said.

Now, the big question. Can we get the hundreds of millions of dollars back that reportedly went out to the wrong people?

According to a response from the IRS, included in the report, it is investigating the reported false claims.

It's also investigating some of its own as many of those claims were filed by IRS employees.

To see the report, click here .