There’s no time of year when the average citizen is pulled deeper into the mire of bureaucracy than tax season. We’re surrounded by piles and piles of our own most personal information, from bank account numbers to social security numbers, to our recent employment history. No time of the year are we more rushed, stressed, and vulnerable.
Con artists know this. They also know that when the IRS says jump, you better ask, “How high?” This is why we’ve seen a 400% increase from last year in tax scams this season.
Educate yourself on how to spot a tax scam, and always verify with the IRS that the email you got requesting your tax and personal information is actually legit. Chances are, it’s not. Stay safe this tax season.
Tax season is like hunting season for con artists. W-2s, 1099s, your bank account, your social security number, everything down to your street address, your employment history for the past year and your phone number appear in your tax forms. Everyone is scrambling to file their taxes, and there’s a low-burn of stress and urgency compounded by the low burn of the possible IRS audit. If there’s one bureaucracy you want to make sure gets all the information they need as soon as they ask for it, it’s the IRS. Or is it a scam?
When you get that very urgent email from the IRS asking for personal information, it’s probably not actually the IRS. Though the email may look official, and though the website it may point you too looks legit, the reality is the IRS very rarely initiates contact via email with taxpayers requesting personal information. If you get an email from the IRS, it’s a scam. If you get a text from the IRS, it’s a scam. If the IRS contacts you via social media, it’s most definitely a scam.
This year, the IRS has seen a 400% increase in phishing and malware scams. Con artists try to phish personal information from taxpayers as well as IRS and tax professionals. Taxpayers open their inbox to find emails requesting information regarding their tax refunds, requesting to update filing details and W-2 references, verifying IP and E-file Pins, confirming personal details, ordering transcripts and even to complete their tax returns, so con artists can file bogus tax returns. Meanwhile, tax professionals are reporting being phished for their online credentials to services like the IRS Tax Professional PTIN System.
Look at it this way: in all of 2014, there were 1,361 incidents reported of IRS scams. In all of 2015, 2,748 IRS scams were reported. Now, numbers from halfway through February of 2016 are 1,389 reported scam attempts, topping the entire year of 2014 and already halfway to the total number for 2015.
The IRS, state revenue departments, as well as tax companies have teamed up to educate taxpayers on the red flags to look out for in phishing and malware scams in the campaign
Taxes. Security. Together. Alongside this campaign, the IRS has set up an email system taxpayers can use to verify whether the email they got stating it is from the IRS is actually from the IRS or if it’s a scam.
If you receive an unsolicited email from the IRS, a state revenue department, or a tax agency, do NOT click on any links in these suspicious emails. The sites they lead to contain malware downloads that can hijack your computer and harvest your personal information. Instead, forward the email to phishing@irs.gov to verify whether it’s legitimate or not.