Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt is urging Kansans to be vigilant this tax season as scammers try to defraud them of their refunds or steal their identity through various schemes.
Schmidt said today that the Consumer Protection Division was experiencing a noticeable increase in calls and emails from Kansans who are being targeted by scammers offering to assist them with filing their tax returns. Often the scammers will promise to expedite a taxpayer’s refund that is due back from the Internal Revenue Service or the State of Kansas.
Identity thieves are always looking for ways to use a legitimate taxpayer’s identity and personal information. This time of year, they use the information to file a tax return and claim a fraudulent refund. With the speed of electronic tax filing, the victim may not be aware of the incident until notified by the Internal Revenue Service that more than one return was filed in his or her name, or that he or she has a discrepancy in taxable earnings and employer identification information. By that time, the tax refund is often already in the hands of the scam artist.
Another tax-related scam is the IRS imposter. The scammer will claim the victim owes taxes and demands the citizen pay immediately over the phone, usually with a gift card or pre-paid debit card. Like a typical phone scam, they pressure the victim…
