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Your tax filing deadline is just hours away — but that’s still plenty of time for scammers to impersonate the IRS and demand payments from victims.
Government officials warn Americans that the IRS will never contact taxpayers by phone or email first — the first communication is always in a written letter.
Fake text messages are also widespread, in which bad actors bombard phones with messages demanding payment or threatening legal action for unpaid taxes.
These bogus messages demand immediate payment, sometimes with a gift card, or threaten people with arrest, which are actions the IRS says it will never take to collect payments.
Tax Day has arrived in the US, and that means scammers will impersonate the IRS to demand money from victims
IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a rack: ‘Scammers are always coming up with new ways to steal information from taxpayers.
“People should be wary and avoid sharing sensitive personal information over the phone, email or social media to avoid getting caught up in these scams.
“And people should always remember to be wary if a tax deal sounds too good to be true.”
More than 3,000 reported tax fraud resulted in losses of $6.23 million in 2022, according to data from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The agency hopes to minimize those numbers for this year by raising public awareness of the types of scams.
Phishing and smishing scans seem to be the attack of choice among scammers.
The former involves bogus emails claiming to be from the IRS or another legitimate organization, including state tax agencies or a financial company.
This communication may include a false tax refund to trick people into handing over bank details or false allegations of tax fraud.
Some phishing emails may also ask the victim to call a phone number. In these cases, the scammer poses as an IRS official and takes the person’s details over the phone.
Scammers send text messages impersonating the IRS. These include numbers to call or links that direct users to a fake website demanding payment
Smishing is a text message that uses the same technique as phishing but provides a link for users to click. This is usually a fake website designed to look like an official IRS site.
Scammers often use alarmist language such as “Your account is now on hold” or “Unusual activity report” with a fake “Solutions” link to recover the recipient’s account. Unexpected tax refunds are another potential target for scammers.
The crooks set up a fake phone number and then sent massive text messages to hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of unsuspecting targets. T
There are several ways that scammers get their victims’ mobile numbers, but most of the time they are pulled from huge online databases.
“Email and SMS scams are relentless, and scammers often use tax season as a way to dupe people,” Werfel said.
“With people eager to get the latest information on a refund or other tax issue, scammers will regularly impersonate the IRS, a state IRS, or others in the tax industry in emails and text messages.
“People should be incredibly wary of these kinds of unexpected messages that can be a trap, especially during filing season.”
Taxpayers will also see scam calls coming in throughout the day and while it may seem archaic, this method has been a very successful attack.
A voice on the other end of the line will say they’re with the IRS and demand immediate payment via a specific method, such as a credit card or gift card.
These fraudsters may even go so far as to threaten arrest, driver’s license revocation, and even deportation if victims fail to hand over the desired payment or provide personal information.
Christopher Brown, an attorney with the FTC, told NPR that the IRS would never threaten taxpayers with arrest or demand immediate payment over the phone.
This is because citizens can appeal or ask questions about how much they owe in taxes, and payments are usually arranged through written communication.
“That newer tactic of luring people in with promises of tax refunds or rebates is more commonly used via email or text as a phishing or smishing scam,” Brown said.
And officials warn not to trust the Caller ID, which can also be changed to show any name or organization.
“Individuals should never respond to tax-related phishing or smishing or click the URL link,” the IRS shows on its website.
“Instead, the scam should be reported by sending the email or a copy of the SMS/SMS as an attachment to phishing@irs.gov.
“The report should include the caller ID (email or phone number), date, time and time zone, and the number that received the message.”