January marks the beginning of the “IRS Scam” season. Beginning now and running through April, scammers send e-mails or text messages claiming to be the Internal Revenue Service.
In the past, scammers have concocted stories, such as problems with past tax returns, to get your attention. They are “phishing,” or trying to get you to reveal personal and financial information. While these messages may look official and legitimate, the real IRS is clear that it does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email, text messages or social medial channels to request personal or financial information. If you receive a suspicious e-mail or text message, the IRS advises that you:
• Do not reply.
• Do not open any attachments. Attachments may contain malicious code that will infect your computer.
• Do not click on any link.
• Forward any emails, as-is, to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov. Forward any text messages, as-is, to the IRS at 202-552-1226. (Standard text messaging rates apply.)
• After you forward the email or text to the IRS, delete the original message you received.
Scammers also use the telephone. If you receive a call from someone claiming to work for the IRS, don’t give them any information. Instead, ask the caller for his or her call back number and employee badge number. Then contact the IRS at your own initiative to verify that the caller is, in fact, an IRS employee with a legitimate need to speak with you. If you determine that the call was valid, you can contact the representative using the call back number.
The IRS sends legitimate inquires via U.S. Mail. You can authenticate any mailing from the IRS by calling 1-800-829-1040. For more ways to contact the IRS visit: http://www.irs.gov/uac/How-to-Contact-the-IRS-1
