Tax scams always put taxpayers at risk, but this year taxpayers should pay special attention to schemes related to COVID-19 relief.
Here is what to look out for:
Phishing: The IRS will never contact taxpayers through email about a tax bill, refund or Economic Impact Payment. Taxpayers should be alert of potential fake emails or websites looking to steal personal information.
Fake charities: Criminals frequently target natural disasters such as COVID-19 to create fake charities, with the intention to steal from people trying to help in times of need. Fraudulent schemes like this can come from unsolicited phone calls, text messages, social media and email.
Threatening impersonator phone calls: Fake threatening phone calls from criminals claiming to be with the IRS is another common problem. The IRS will never threaten a taxpayer or include threat of arrest, deportation or license revocation for non-payment of a tax bill.
Social media scams: Social media enables anyone to share information on the Internet. Scammers use this information for a wide variety of scams including emails where scammers impersonate someone’s family, friends or co-workers.
Economic Impact Payment or refund theft: This year, criminals turned their attention to stealing Economic Impact Payments. Criminals file false tax returns or supply false information to the IRS to divert refunds to wrong addresses or bank accounts.
Senior fraud: Senior citizens, their friends and family need to be on alert for tax scams targeting older taxpayers. Look out for a continuing surge of fake emails, text messages, websites and social media attempts to steal personal information.