One of the newest schemes tries to mislead victims into believing they are owed a tax refund and must provide additional personal and banking information to claim it. The scheme begins with a mailing that arrives in a cardboard envelope from a delivery service. The enclosed letter appears to be on IRS letterhead with verbiage stating that the notice is “in relation to your unclaimed refund.”
To claim their alleged refunds, recipients are instructed to phone or email sensitive personal information—such as bank routing information, a Social Security number, and pictures of the taxpayer’s driver’s license—which the identity thieves then use to gain access to victims’ accounts.
The good news about this scam is that it can be relatively easy to spot if the targeted victims are alert to several red flags. First, they should understand that the IRS generally uses regular mail—never a delivery service—to notify taxpayers of unclaimed refunds. In addition, the phony letter may contain odd punctuation and awkward wording, such as “please try to be checking your email for response from the agents.” It may also include an unusual mixture of typefaces.
Another malicious scheme involves scammers who impersonate IRS agents over the phone. Unlike the unclaimed refund swindlers, these imposters claim the victim owes money to the IRS and insist that the payment must be made at once.
Often, these callers are aggressive and even hostile, threatening the target with arrest if they do not provide the requested bank information. In other cases, victims are told they must pay through a gift card or wire transfer. Criminals often target recent immigrants, who are also threatened with deportation if they do not comply.
Again, the red flags are obvious, but only if taxpayers are alert to them. The IRS says it never uses the phone to provide first notice of an outstanding tax bill—it generally sends a bill first using regular mail. IRS agents will never demand immediate payment using a wire transfer, prepaid debit card, gift card, or other unconventional method, nor will they threaten to bring in police to arrest a delinquent taxpayer.
It is no surprise that scammers also use email and text messages to impersonate the IRS. The agency has issued numerous alerts about the fraudulent use of the IRS name or logo by impostors trying to trick taxpayers into thinking these are official communications.
These are usually phishing schemes designed to get taxpayers to reveal sensitive personal or financial information. These emails pretend to seek information related to refunds or filing status or claim to be confirming personal information, ordering transcripts, or verifying PIN information. They often contain directions such as “you are to update your IRS e-file immediately” and include links to bogus websites intended to mirror the official IRS website.
Some taxpayers have also received emails claiming to be from the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel (TAP) about a tax refund. These, too, are phishing scams—the TAP is a volunteer board that advises the IRS on systemic issues. It has no access to taxpayers’ personal information and never requests it.
Naturally, there are text message variations on all these email schemes. In addition to phishing for personal and financial information, some of these messages may carry malware that can infect computers and allow criminals to access files or track keystrokes. It’s important to avoid clicking any link in a suspicious text or email and to remember that the IRS will never initiate contact with a taxpayer by email, text, or social media. Unsolicited emails or texts claiming to be from the IRS should be forwarded to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov.
Although it is relatively rare—and brazen—scammers posing as IRS agents do sometimes visit a taxpayer’s home or business in person. To combat this, the IRS announced last year that it is ending most unannounced visits to taxpayers by revenue officers. Instead, revenue officers will contact taxpayers through an appointment letter, known as a 725-B letter, and schedule a follow-up meeting.
The only general exceptions to this policy are regular fuel tax compliance inspections at certain regulated businesses or cases involving the service of subpoenas or asset seizure. In all cases, IRS agents will always present two forms of official identification: their IRS-issued credentials and a standard government HSPD-12 card.
Tax-related scams are nothing new, but fraudsters impersonating IRS agents can be particularly troublesome. The agency offers extensive information about such schemes at several sites, including https://www.irs.gov/privacy-disclosure/report-phishing and https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/how-to-know-if-its-really-the-irs.
We can help verify communications that appear to be from the IRS. Call us with questions at 425.629.1990.