Don’t be fooled by Scammers this tax season
Who would have thought that tax season also meant tax scams? It’s crazy, and unfortunate but it’s true. Over 75,000 people have fallen victim to scammers impersonating the IRS since 2018. This has resulted in a loss of over $28 million to fraud. These scammers have acted through phone calls, emails, and even text messages. Some have even gone to the extent of utilizing other resources such as sending mail directly to your home or in person confrontation.
Imposters have been faking as government officials for decades, threatening jail time, police arrival, and more if money isn’t sent right away. The IRS has released multiple articles to help guide civilians to protect themselves from these schemes. Some ways to avoid being scammed this tax season is to be aware of how the IRS may contact you. For starters, the IRS will never initiate an email conversation requesting financial or personal information. An article written by the IRS stated, “Generally, the IRS first mails a paper bill to a person who owes taxes. In some special situations, the IRS will call or come to a home or business. Taxpayers should report IRS, Treasury or tax-related suspicious online or email phishing scams to phishing@irs.gov. They should not open any attachments, click on any links, reply to the sender, or take any other actions that could put them at risk.”
Another important thing to note, is the IRS agency will never ask for or accept gift cards as payment for a tax bill. This unfortunately doesn’t stop scammers from trying but we can surely slow them down by being aware of the difference. An article written by the agency stated, “They may also use a compromised email account to send emails requesting gift card purchases for friends, family or co-workers. Gift cards make great presents for loved ones, but they cannot be used to pay taxes.”
A fraudulent email, better known as phishing is, “a cybercrime in which a target or targets are contacted by email, telephone or text message by someone posing as a legitimate institution to lure individuals into providing sensitive data such as personally identifiable information, banking and credit card details, and passwords. The information is then used to access important accounts and can result in identity theft and financial loss.” It’s a serious crime, but an even more serious scam, as well as the most common. Roughly over 3 billion emails a DAY are from cyber criminals trying to collect data.
But that’s not all, email is only one of many ways they may contact you. The second most common form of contact is the telephone. The IRS will always mail a bill first to the taxpayer they’re trying to reach.
They will never:
- Leave pre-recorded, urgent, or threatening messages on an answering system
- Threaten to immediately bring in local police or other law enforcement groups to arrest the taxpayer for not paying, deport them or revoke their licenses.
- Call to demand immediate payment with a prepaid debit card, gift card or wire transfer.
- The IRS will never ask for checks to third parties
- Demand payment without giving the taxpayer an opportunity to question or appeal the amount owed.
In an article providing tips to taxpayers, the IRS wrote, “Criminals can fake or spoof caller ID numbers to appear to be anywhere in the country. Scammers can even spoof an IRS office phone number or the numbers of various local, state, federal or tribal government agencies.
If a taxpayer receives an IRS or Treasury-related phone call, but doesn’t owe taxes and has no reason to think they do, they should:
- Not give out any information.
- Hang up immediately.
- Contact the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to report the IRS impersonation scam call.
- Report the caller ID and callback number to the IRS by sending it to phishing@irs.gov.
- The subject line should include “IRS Phone Scam.”
- Report the call to the Federal Trade Commission.”
Homeland security also offered a way to protect yourself this tax season by being able to spot the differences in scam emails. Below are a few things you should look for if you’re unsure of where an email is coming from, for more ways to spot the difference, check out the Homeland Security Article, click here to read more!
- Do not provide personal information or information about your organization, including its structure or networks, unless you are certain of a person’s authority to have the information.
- Do not reveal personal or financial information in email, and do not respond to email solicitations for this information. This includes the following links sent in email.
- Pay attention to the Uniform Resource Locator (URL) of a website. Look for URLs that begin with “https”—an indication that sites are secure—rather than “http.”
- Look for a closed padlock icon—a sign your information will be encrypted.
While the information may seem tedious, it’s important you pay attention during this stress inducing time. The extra seconds it takes to ensure your information is not only protected, but going where it needs to go can quite literally save you millions. And never be afraid to contact your local office if you’re ever unsure about information you received!
By prepaid2cash