As tax season ramps up, many taxpayers are finding out some losses they suffered last year are no longer tax deductible. Personal losses from events like a house fire or robbery generally cannot be deducted.
7 On Your Side has been reporting about the widespread Zelle scam – bank imposters tricking victims into sending them money through Zelle. The scammers were bad enough. Now victims are finding out the IRS won’t give them a break either.
“And I went, ‘Wow I have been scammed,'” said Donald James of San Jose.
Another victim, Page Pollack of San Francisco, had a similar experience. “And $3,500 was gone right then and there.”
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“The money is gone. It’s gone. It like, disappeared,” said Concord resident Cynthia Marin.
All were victims of the same scam – bank imposters claiming to help them stop a fraud tricked them into sending money through Zelle – but it went straight to the crooks.
“I went to go look and I had six dollars left,” Marin said.
“$7,000 over a matter of several transactions,” James explained.
Like other victims, James felt the sting of losing thousands of dollars to the scam. He figured at least the federal government would soften the blow with a nice tax break.
TAX CHAT: Have a question about filing your…
