Frightening New Tax Scam in 2018
It’s tax season again, and tax-related scams, which peak during the filing season, are upon us. There are many common scams that taxpayers encounter during the year such as fraudulent phone calls or emails from people claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service.
Criminals have taken their “art” to the next level this year. Given the pervasiveness of personal indefinable information (names and addresses, social security numbers, etc.) that has been stolen in recent years, it is perhaps unsurprising that we’re seeing it put to use on a broad scale for malfeasance.
The IRS has reported that tax returns have been fraudulently filed by criminals but that refunds have been issued to real victims’ bank accounts. Following this, the criminals call the victims claiming to be from the IRS, a debt collection agency, or via a “robo-caller” demanding that the funds be returned to the IRS using a wire-transfer with threats of arrest warrants, revoked driver’s licenses, or deportation. Of course, the funds would actually be wired into the criminals’ account putting the taxpayer on the hook to the IRS despite the fraud.
The extra challenge for even savvy victims here is that the taxpayer actually does have erroneously obtained funds from the IRS in their bank account. Plus, since the criminals have the victim’s name, social security number, address, and perhaps other information, they can seem legitimate on the phone or by follow-up email.
If this happens, what should you do?
- Call LGA. We’ll help you to alert the IRS about the fraudulently filed return and help you return the funds to the IRS.
- Alert your bank so you can freeze your checking account (and perhaps your other accounts as well).
- Take notes about what happened including the phone numbers, names, ID badge numbers, threats, wire transfer info, dates and times of contact, or whatever else could help the authorities track down the criminals.
- Contact the three major credit bureaus to notify them of the fraud and to freeze your credit reports.
- Change your passwords to your email and other important accounts.
- Be vigilant about looking out for other attempts at fraud since it’s likely that your personal identifiable information has been compromised.
According to the IRS, they will never:
- Call to demand immediate payment using a specific payment method such as a prepaid debit card, gift card or wire transfer. Generally, the IRS will first mail a bill to any taxpayer who owes taxes.
- Threaten to immediately bring in local police or other law-enforcement groups to have the taxpayer arrested for not paying.
- Demand that taxes be paid without giving taxpayers the opportunity to question or appeal the amount owed.
- Ask for credit or debit card numbers over the phone.
- Call you for an unexpected refund.