WASHINGTON (NEWS10) – The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) warns taxpayers to protect their personal and financial information throughout the year. IRS says impersonation scams, along with other schemes, try to trick people and fraudulently collect their hard-earned money.
According to the IRS, these schemes can involve identity thieves to target people with realistic-looking text message scams, e-mail schemes, and phone scams. In addition, the IRS also warns people to watch out for signs of potential unemployment fraud this tax season.
Since 2015, the IRS, along with state tax agencies, and the nation’s tax industry has taken numerous steps to protect taxpayers, businesses, and the tax system from identity thieves. Security summit partners continue to warn people to watch out for common scams and schemes.
Potential common risks of identity theft include:
- Text message scams – Texts messages that impersonate the IRS are sent to taxpayers’ smartphones and have referenced COVID-19 and/or “stimulus payments. These messages often contain bogus links claiming to be IRS websites or other online tools.
- Email phishing scams – The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email to request personal or financial information. The IRS initiates most contacts through regular mail delivered by the United States Postal Service.
- Phone scams – The IRS does not leave pre-recorded,…
