It’s that time of year — tax time. It’s also a great time to get up to speed on tax-related scams. Here are two ways tax scammers might target you and what you can do about it:
The following information is provided by the IRS.gov website in an effort to get the word out regarding tax identity theft which is drastically increasing every year.
Tax identity theft
This kind of identity theft happens when someone
files a fake tax return using your personal information — like your Social
Security number — to get a tax refund. Tax identity theft also
happens when someone uses your Social Security number to get a job. You find
out about it when you get a letter from the IRS saying:
·
more than one tax return was filed in your name, or
·
IRS records show wages from an employer you don’t
know
If you get a letter like this,
contact the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit at 800-908-4490. You can
find more about tax identity theft at ftc.gov/taxidtheft and irs.gov/identitytheft.
IRS imposter scams
This time scammers aren’t pretending to be you — they’re posing
as the IRS. They call you up saying you owe taxes, and threaten to arrest you
if you don’t pay right away. They might know all or part of your Social
Security number, and they can rig caller ID to make it look like the call is
coming from Washington, DC – when it could be coming from anywhere. Leaving you
no time to think, they tell you to put the money on a
prepaid debit card and tell them the card number right away.
The real IRS won’t
ask you to pay with prepaid debit cards or wire transfers, and won’t ask for a credit
card number over the phone. When the IRS contacts people about unpaid taxes,
they usually do it by mail. You can report IRS impostor scams to the Treasury
Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) online or at
800-366-4484, and to the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint.
Visit IdentityTheft.gov
IdentityTheft.gov is the federal
government’s one-stop resource to help you report and recover from identity
theft. You can report identity theft, get step-by-step advice, sample letters,
and your FTC Identity Theft Affidavit. These resources will help you fix
problems caused by the identity theft.
One other note. NEVER email your tax returns. Sending an email is analogous to sending a postcard in the mail. Anyone can read everything in the email and anything attached to it.
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