What a bizarre situation.

Surely there must be a way to verify the tax return being logged is actually being logged by the legit person.

What about visiting your local Post office and logging it there (manually or electronically) after providing adequate ID?
I know this would make the process tedious but what other options do you have?

This happened to me a couple years back and was really not a big deal. I'm usually late to the tax party and my accountant files electronically (usually does on the rare occasion I am early as well). He came back to me and said that he could not file electronically, as my return had already been filed. Asked him what to do, he said to just send in the return via USPS and wait. Most of the time it clears itself up and you never hear back from the IRS - I didn't. I was told, that in some cases, it's truly a misfile. The person/accountant enters in a wrong digit for S.S. Once that S.S. has been accepted, you can't file electronically anymore. Yes, sometimes it's fraud... He did tell me that the earlier one files their return, the less likely this can happen. YMMV

Well the IRS caught it ! Not so bad after all... It just took a long time for the letter to get to me via my old address... I gleefully filed another fraud report and I am glad those bastards will not get a penny from my end anyway - I'm sure some get though...

Still, it will take a long time to get our refund, but I'm glad the thieves won't !

I just discovered that if you have a refund due from the State of Ohio you have to fill out a questionnaire to establish your identity. They ask questions like, "Under what address did you file your taxes in 1995." This should help stop refunds from going to the wrong people.