The tax season can be a stressful period for businesses. This period is marked with pressures to file for returns by a deadline and it inadvertently provides good opportunities for scammers to strike. Scammers pounce on opportunities to steal your sensitive data, identity theft or trick you out of money by employing elaborate ruses using tax scams.
Tax scams can involve criminals impersonating IRS agents, government agencies, customer support employees and more. They can reach out to you in person over the phone, online or via the mail in an effort to trick you into sending them money for taxes, pay penalties or fees you don’t actually owe.
They often prey on the least suspecting using tactics cloaked in the guise of the official Internal Revenue Service business. The scams can be simple or extremely elaborate. What they count on are unsuspecting individuals they can easily dupe with threats and a sense of urgency to avert any penalties or fines.
Tax Scams
Below are some of the tax scams you need to watch out for. Some have been there for some time while others are variations or entirely new scams.
Phishing
This is a widely used tax scam that comes in various forms. It is a scam typically carried out with the help of unsolicited email or a fake website posing as a legitimate site to lure in potential victims.
There are basically two objectives here. One is to prompt you to provide valuable personal and financial information. Armed with this information scammers can commit…