Tax Refund Scammers Are Starting Early This Season

As part of our ongoing efforts to help keep your personal information as safe as possible, we want to remind you to stay on the lookout for the many e-mail, text message, and voicemail scams making the rounds in cyberspace today.

Tax return scammers are starting their season early! Recent fraudulent activity has involved e-mails and phone calls claiming to come from the IRS regarding tax refunds. Some fraudsters have been asking for sensitive refund information over the phone or using e-mails stating that someone has filed for the recipient’s refund and that he or she needs to click a (malicious) link if he or she did not file for it. Common characteristics of the scams include:

· The criminal may use a fake or common name and make up taxpayer identification information.
· The scammer may know certain information about the recipient, such as the last four digits of the recipient’s social security number or personal e-mail address.
· The scammer may spoof his or her phone number so that appears to be the IRS’s toll-free number and mimics actual IRS calls—complete with phone conversations going on in the background.
· The criminal may follow up phone calls with e-mails to appear legitimate.
· The scammer may threaten the recipient and scare him or her into falling for the scheme. Such threats may include driver license revocation, pretending to be a police officer, and so on.

Any phone calls or e-mails regarding your tax refund or that contain the characteristics listed above should automatically raise a red flag. Do not provide any information to the caller, click on any links, or open any attachments.

What to do if you receive a suspicious e-mail or phone call
If you receive an e-mail or phone call asking for information regarding your tax refund, please delete it from your inbox immediately—or hang up on the caller—and don’t click on any links, open any attachments, provide any information, or reply to the sender. Links and attachments could potentially install malicious software onto your computer, and the sender or caller could use your personal sensitive information to steal your identity or actual tax refund.

Protect yourself
Keep in mind the following if you receive any suspicious phone calls or e-mails regarding your tax return:

1. As noted above, don’t click on any links or attachments within an e-mail.
2. Do not provide any information to the sender or caller if it is asked for. Immediately hang up or delete the e-mail.
3. Call the IRS at 866.562.5227 if you are unsure of the legitimacy of an e-mail or phone call.
4. Prepare and file your tax returns as early as possible. This will take away the scammer’s ability to file and steal your return. This will also help you in detecting whether a call or e-mail is fraudulent or not. If someone claims you need to provide him or her with information to file your return, and you have already filed your return, you will know that the request is fraudulent!
5. If you access a dangerous attachment or link, and believe a password-stealer is running on your computer, get in touch with a technology specialist.
6. All unsolicited e-mails concerning password or account changes to any of your online accounts—especially unsolicited e-mails that contain attachments—should be considered scams until verified. Open a new browser and log in directly to the account in question to check the situation.
7. Refer to the IRS’s “Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2013” to get the 12 most common scam types that have seen going around.


Rest assured that we are always concerned about information security. If you have any questions, please contact us at 949.333.6394