USA TODAY International Edition
Tax season scammers can be easy to spot
With your money at stake, it’s best to hang up the phone
Eating lunch the other day with my co- workers at our bungalow- turnedhome- office, I was interrupted by a phone call from someone claiming to be from my TV service company.
Tired of the scammers, I asked the guy on the line about the weather there and then told him how we could fix his air conditioner if he put $ 500 on a gift card for Home Depot and then told him how he’d need to read me those numbers.
“Come on,” I egged him on, “you know how to do this. You’ve been telling people how to do this for years.”
Yeah, the pandemic can drive you a little over the top. My son, the accountant, and my husband, the editor, just shook their heads. My son later told me: “Great mom, now the guy’s going to get back at us by filing a fake tax return.”
And so it has come to this: We are either getting scammed by these guys or getting worked up when these guys keep calling. And yes, we wonder what they might do next.
Now that it is tax season, scammers will use one scheme after another to craft stimulus scams, file phony tax returns to steal tax refund cash, or stage some drama to scare us into handing over our Social Security numbers, bank account numbers and cash.
The best advice remains to simply hang up the phone on scammers, and don’t engage with their texts.
The three rounds of stimulus payments offer consumers financial relief during the pandemic, but they also give scammers another storyline.
Amy Nofziger, director of victim support for the AARP Fraud Watch Network, said one consumer was contacted by someone supposedly from USATaxHelp12@ gmail. com who reportedly had a way to expedite a stimulus payment.
“Not signing a return is a red flag that the paid preparer may be looking to make a fast buck by promising a big refund.” Internal Revenue Service
The consumer, unfortunately, signed an electronic document, and now the scammers have his e- signature. Be wary if you receive an email stating that you have documents to sign. If you haven’t requested any documents, it’s likely a phishing attack.
Another clue: A legitimate business is rarely using a web- based Gmail or Yahoo account.
IRS isn’t texting about stimulus money
Sarah Kull, special agent in charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation Division of the Detroit field office, warns of an uptick in schemes involving Economic Impact Payments – aka relief checks – including text messages that ask taxpayers to disclose bank account information.
One text sent by scammers noted: “You have a pending claim of $ 1,200.00 from COVID- 19 relief TREAS 310 tax ref.”
Again, texts aren’t part of real relief rollout programs. Yet someone who is unsure about how or when they might receive a relief payment might wrongly believe the text is legitimate.
The phony text indicates: “Further action is required to accept this payment. … Continue here to accept this payment …”
If you press the link, you end up at a phishing web address. One fake link, according to an IRS warning in November, took people to a fake website that looks like the Get My Payment website at IRS. gov.
If people visit the fake website and entered their personal and financial account information, the IRS warned, the scammers could collect that data to use in ID theft- related crimes.
The IRS said people who receive this text scam should send a screenshot in an email to phishing@ irs. gov. You would include when you received the text message, the phone number it supposedly came from, and the phone number that received the text.
Scam warning: The IRS isn’t going to send a text relating to a relief payment or a text asking you to share your bank account information.
Don’t pitch a strange 1099
Many retirees and others were shocked when they received a 1099- G in the mail to report unemployment benefits on their tax returns this year.
One caller to the AARP Fraud Watch Network Helpline noted that the 1099- G that he received indicated he needed to report $ 2,400 in jobless benefits, Nofziger said. But the man had been retired for 17 years and didn’t file for unemployment benefits in 2020. Instead, someone used his personal information to file a claim.
“A lot of these victims were unaware they were victims until the 1099- G came out,” she said.
“It’s very jarring for people to receive this form.”
You don’t want to ignore a 1099- G. Contact the state unemployment office to report the fraud and get a corrected 1099- G that shows you did not get any benefits.
The IRS states that victims of ID theft should not report income that they didn’t receive even if they have not yet been able to get a corrected 1099- G before filing their tax returns.
Don’t pick a scammer to do your taxes
Unfortunately, bad actors pop up during tax season, maybe someone you’ve met through a friend of a friend, pretending to offer you a great deal or promising to get you an extra- large tax refund.
Nofziger noted that a man reported in early March about a tax preparer found through Facebook.
After having a tax return completed, the tax preparer said the refund was $ 1,000 less than the tax refund listed on their 1040. Somehow, the fees are much higher than originally quoted. The tax preparer wants a refund deposited into one of her accounts and then plans to cut a check and send the taxpayers their refund.
No surprise, the taxpayers are now having trouble reaching this person and getting a status on their return.
“They looked up the routing number of the account that it is supposed to be deposited into and said it looks like some sort of wire transfer routing number,” Nofziger said.
The IRS says that even though most tax return preparers provide honest service, some cause great harm through fraud, identity theft and other scams every year.
Dishonest preparers can steal your personal ID information, maybe Social Security numbers for your children; and some might even steal a major part of your tax refund.
One red flag: A tax preparer who doesn’t need to see a W- 2 or other paperwork. You don’t want a tax preparer to invent income so you can qualify for tax credits.
Never sign a blank tax return or one that’s not completed. Review the routing and bank account number on the completed return. You should be getting the tax refund, not the tax preparer.
The IRS warns: “Ghost preparers don’t sign the tax returns they prepare. They may print the tax return and tell the taxpayer to sign and mail it to the IRS.”
Paid preparers are required to sign and include their preparer tax identification number on the return. “Not signing a return is a red flag that the paid preparer may be looking to make a fast buck by promising a big refund or charging fees based on the size of the refund,” the IRS warns.
Also, the IRS warns: “Don’t assume internet advertisements, pop- up ads, or e- mails are from reputable companies.”
Volunteers from tax preparation programs can help many people. The AARP Foundation Tax- Aide program, for example, offers in- person and virtual tax assistance to anyone free of charge with a special focus on taxpayers who are over 50 or have low to moderate income. This year, tax assistance is available by appointment only. See aarpfoundation. org/ taxaide.
Visit IRS. gov and the list of Volunteer Income Tax Assistance sites for those who qualify based on income; some programs are preparing returns off- site this year due to COVID- 19.
Free tax help is available for people who generally make $ 57,000 or less, those with disabilities and limited English- speaking taxpayers.
IRS impersonation scams continue
Don’t react to a letter or a phone call out of the blue that seems official because those reaching out to you know you owe back taxes. Some information can be pulled by scammers from public databases or elsewhere.
Remember, ID theft revolves around making things sound credible so the crooks often take time to do a little research in advance to sound like the real deal.
One important point to remember: The IRS is not going to call you about back taxes that you may owe without sending you a written notice first. If you’re getting a call out of the blue, it’s an imposter.
“The IRS doesn’t initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text messages or social media channels to request personal or financial information,” according to a new IRS alert.
“Generally, the IRS first mails a paper bill to a person who owes taxes,” the IRS stated. “In some special situations, the IRS will call or come to a home or business.”
The Michigan Department of Treasury warned in January that consumers in northern Michigan were receiving threatening tax collection letters from scammers. The letters included this scare tactic: “Call Immediately to Prevent Property Loss.”
If the state tax debt wasn’t settled, the letter written by a scammer warned that the taxpayer’s property and Social Security benefits could be seized.
“The piece of correspondence appears credible to the taxpayer because it uses specific personal facts about their real outstanding tax debt that’s pulled directly from publicly available information,” according to the state treasury.
“The scammer’s letter attempts to lure the taxpayer into a situation where they could make a payment to a criminal.”
Don’t rush to pay anyone. You don’t want to think you’re clearing up a financial mess only to find out that you handed over your hard- earned cash to a crook.