Tax Day might have come and gone but the scammers remain…
With the ink barely dry on tax returns, scammers are already reaching out to taxpayers. My office received a flurry of emails just after Tax Day purporting to be from the “IRS e-help Desk.” The email offers a case ID number and states that details about the case are attached. The attachment is a zip file.
The email is actually sent from an email account with a domain registered in India. The IP address associated with the email is listed as “poor” on the Barracuda Reputation System.
It’s likely that the zip file contains malware such as a virus or spyware. Don’t open the attachment and don’t click on the associated links.
Remember that the IRS does not ever initiate contact with taxpayers by email to request personal or financial information. This includes any type of electronic communication including texts and social media. The IRS also does not ask for PINs, passwords, or similar confidential access information for credit card, bank, or other financial accounts.
If you get one of these emails, forward it to phishing@irs.gov and delete it.
In addition to the email scams, those phone scams aren’t slowing down either. Earlier in the week, the IRS issued “another strong warning for consumers to guard against sophisticated and aggressive phone scams targeting taxpayers.”
In the most common version of the scam, callers posing as IRS representatives contact taxpayers by phone, claiming that they owe money to the IRS. Taxpayers are told that they must pay the balance promptly using a pre-loaded debit card or wire transfer or be subject to punishment, including arrest, deportation, or suspension of a business or driver’s license.
Of course, it really isn’t the IRS calling. The IRS doesn’t generally initiate contact by phone, will not use abusive language or threaten arrest, will not ask for payment using a pre-paid debit card or wire transfer, and will never ask for a credit card number over the phone. According to the IRS, if you get a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS, here’s what you should do:
- If you know you owe taxes or you think you might owe taxes, call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040. The IRS employees at that line can help you with a payment issue if there really is such an issue.
- If you know you don’t owe taxes or have no reason to think that you owe any taxes (for example, you’ve never received a bill or the caller made some bogus threats as described above), then call and report the incident to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1.800.366.4484.
- If you’ve been targeted by this scam, you should also contact the Federal Trade Commission and use their “FTC Complaint Assistant” at FTC.gov. Please add “IRS Telephone Scam” to the comments of your complaint.
Just because tax season is over for most taxpayers doesn’t mean that the scams will slow down. There are a number of scams circulating in an attempt to take advantage of taxpayers. Don’t let your guard down.
