Tax scams, identity theft, and fraud schemes to watch out for — how they work, how to spot them, and how to protect yourself.
It seems that the spammers, phishers, scammers, and schemers are upping their game these days. In addition to the EFTPS scam making the rounds, I received word that there is a phishing scheme involving the Canada Revenue Agency. The email read: Online Refund Form After the last annual calculation of your fiscal activity we have…
By now, you have to have received one of the scam emails purporting to be from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) with the subject line: “Notice of Underreported Income.” I’ve received 59 of them just since September 18, 2009. Persistent little spammers. But if you’re smart or if you follow me on Twitter (not that…
It’s time for the Census! According to best estimates, there are 307,216,361 people in the US as of the publishing of this blog entry. The ticker on the US Census web site was plugging along quite nicely as I was writing, so chances are, there will be a few hundred more by the time you…
I just received an email with the subject line “Confidential Information” in my inbox. The attachment was a form which requested a long list of information including: Billing Address Social Security Number Mother’s Maiden Name Drivers License Social Security Number Phone Number Credit Card Number with Signature Panel Code and Expiration, plus PIN Bank Name…
The US Tax Court has received reports about an e-mail allegedly sent by a member of the Tax Court’s practitioner bar. This is NOT a legitimate email. If you do not have a case pending before the US Tax Court, the Court will not contact you via email. The Tax Court has advised that if…
Imagine this: You file your 2007 tax return just like normal. You get your economic stimulus check. And life goes on, right? What if, a few months later, you got a letter from the IRS asking you why you filed TWO tax returns for the same year? Using different addresses? Yep, that’s what happened to…
I just received the following email with the header “Get Tax Refund on your VISA or MasterCard Now!” in my email today: After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $135.50. Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 6-9…
Okay, maybe they do care (maybe a little), but they certainly won’t pay you for your opinion. The IRS is warning about a new phishing scam involving an email to taxpayers that purports to issue a tax credit of $80 in exchange for completing an online survey. It’s not going to happen. The IRS will…
The IRS wants you to understand that you’ll never actually see that message in a subject line from IRS. It’s the newest scam to target taxpayers. Taxpayers have reported the receipt of an email allegedly from “IRS Criminal Investigation” claiming that an investigation is underway for the filing of a false return or other complaint….
The IRS is warning taxpayers to avoid a site claiming to assist taxpayers in filing for free through the “Free File Alliance.” You can only access Free File through the IRS website at www.irs.gov. In the scam, various web sites claim to work with the Free File Alliance, a partnership between 19 tax software companies…