The tax agency says it’s a busy time for scammers trying to steal personal information or money from taxpayers. In 2021, Americans lodged nearly 6 million fraud and scam complaints with the Federal Trade Commission.
Should I give ID.me my Social Security number?
One type of scam involves criminals posing as the IRS to trick people into giving up their bank account information. They’ll often ask for gift cards, prepaid debit cards or wire transfers in order to pay a bogus tax bill, according to the IRS. Some will also threaten to arrest and deport you or your family if you don’t comply with their request.
Got a text about money from the IRS? You can help stop these types of schemes by avoiding contact with strangers over unsolicited emails, texts and social media messages. The IRS never initiates conversations with taxpayers over these channels.
The tax agency also warns against downloading any attachments (including PDFs) that may contain malware or come with a link to an online form. Instead, visit the official IRS website to download forms and other resources.
You should also be wary of any letter that doesn’t include a valid IRS return address or logo and has misspellings, bad punctuation and mismatched fonts. Legitimate letters from the IRS will always use proper capitalization and include a full date. And if you’re asked to send sensitive information, only do so by mail in an official government envelope with the IRS seal. This helps ensure that it gets to the right people, who can review the document for any suspicious information.