Tax scams, identity theft, and fraud schemes to watch out for — how they work, how to spot them, and how to protect yourself.
With tax season set to open today, the scammers are already prepared. Be on the lookout for scams, including phishing scams, which might make your personal and financial information vulnerable to thieves.
North Dakota has announced that it will slow the issuance of tax refunds this season in an effort to try and stop identity theft-related tax fraud. It’s the second state to do so this season. Tax season opens today.
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has announced that it has discovered an error affecting Identity Protection Personal Identity Numbers (IP PIN) letters mailed out in December 2015: those letters have the wrong effective year.
It happened again this week. I was making a doctor’s appointment for my son when I was asked if I would be responsible for the medical bills. I said yes. The receptionist then asked for my address (no problem) and my Social Security number. I paused. “Why do you need it?” I asked politely. She didn’t answer…
Over the past two years, nearly 4,550 victims have collectively paid over $23 million to scammers posing as Internal Revenue Service (IRS) officials. Since October 2013, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) has received reports of roughly 736,000 contacts made to taxpayers demanding that they send them cash via prepaid debit cards. J….
I won the lottery this week despite the fact that I didn’t buy a ticket. I found out that I won after the directors of the lottery reached out to me directly via email to claim my prize. They just need some of my personal information and they’ll get to processing my winnings right away….
Guilty. That was the plea today from 29-year-old Elian Matlovsky of Staten Island, New York. Matlovsky was one of 14 defendants initially charged in a scheme that authorities described as “one of the nation’s largest and longest-running stolen identity tax refund fraud schemes.” Under the scheme, Matlovsky and the other defendants are alleged to have…
With the ink barely dry on tax returns, scammers are already reaching out to taxpayers.
Think that’s IRS on the phone demanding payment? Think again…
Identity theft related tax fraud is one of the most serious concerns at IRS today. What’s being done about it? I talked to IRS-Criminal Investigations about ongoing efforts to get the bad guys and found out some surprising details about targets, enforcements and the staggering amounts of tax dollars involved.
