IRS warns of scams related to virus

The IRS’s Criminal Investigations division is warning the public against virus-related scams.

The Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigations division is warning the public against novel coronavirus-related scams.

IRS officials stated in a news release that over the past few months, the CI division has seen a variety of Economic Impact Payment scams as well as “other financial schemes looking to take advantage of unsuspecting taxpayers.”

“Criminals try to take advantage of our most vulnerable times and our most vulnerable populations,” Don Fort, Chief of the IRS Criminal Investigation said in a statement. “But because we have seen many of these criminals and schemes before, we know how to find them and we know how to expose them.”

The division has seen scams related to the organized selling of fake athome test kits, offers to sell fake cures, vaccines, pills and advice on unproven treatment for COVID-19. It has also seen scams purporting to sell large quantities of medical supplies through the creation of fake shops, websites, social media accounts and email addresses where the “criminal fails to deliver promised supplies after receiving funds.”

Another COVID-19-related scam has involved setting up fake charities soliciting donations for individuals, groups and areas affected by the disease. Yet another offers opportunities to invest early in companies working on a vaccine for the disease promising that the company will dramatically increase in value as a result. The CI division stated these promotions are often styled as research reports, make predictions of a specific target price and relate to microcap stocks, or low-priced stocks issued by the “smallest of companies with limited publicly available information.”

Officials stated they’ve also seen a “tremendous increase in phishing schemes utilizing emails, letters, texts and links.” These phishing schemes are using keywords such as “Corona Virus,” “COVID-19”, and “Stimulus” in varying ways, according to the release.

These schemes are “blasted to large numbers of people known by the bad actors in an effort to get personally identifying information or financial account information to include account numbers and passwords.” Officials stated that most of these new schemes are “actively playing on the fear and unknown of the virus and the stimulus payments.”

According to the release, coronavirus-related scams should be reported to the National Center for Disaster Fraud (NCDF) Hotline at 1-866-720-5721 or submitted through the NCDF Web Complaint Form at https:// www.justice.gov/disasterfraud/ncdf-disaster-complaint-form

The NCDF is a national coordinating agency within the Department of Justice’s Criminal Division “dedicated to improving the detection, prevention, investigation and prosecution of criminal conduct related to natural and man-made disasters and other emergencies, such as the coronavirus.” Hotline staff will obtain information regarding complaints, which then be reviewed by law enforcement officials, according to the release.

Taxpayers can also report fraud or theft of their Economic Impact Payments to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration.

Reports can be made online at TIPS.TIGTA.GOV. TIGTA investigates external attempts to corruptly interfere with federal tax administration, including IRS-related coronavirus scams.

Phishing attempts can always be reported to the IRS, according to the release. Those who receive unsolicited emails or social media attempts to gather information that appear to be from either the IRS or an organization closely linked to the IRS, such as the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, should forward it to phishing@irs.gov.

Taxpayers are encouraged not to engage potential scammers online or on the phone, the release stated.