The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is warning taxpayers about a significant rise in so-called ‘smishing’ attacks consisting of IRS-themed texting scams designed to steal personal and financial information. Smishing attacks target mobile phone users by delivering scam text messages offering fake COVID relief, tax credits, or other benefits.
The IRS does not send emails or text messages asking for personal or financial information or account numbers, the agency says.
So far in 2022, the IRS has identified and reported thousands of fraudulent internet domains responsible for multiple IRS-themed smishing attacks. Recently, these attacks have increased exponentially.
Mobile Phones Targeted
Smishing, a text-oriented form of phishing, is a scam with the goal of getting you to give up personal or financial information, including account numbers. Because smishing uses text messages, mobile phones and other MMS/SMS devices are the primary targets.
The scam messages often appear to be coming from the IRS and offer such things as COVID relief, tax credits, or help setting up an online IRS account, according to the agency. The texts often ask recipients to click a link where the fraudulent website tries to collect personal information or send a malicious code to the phone.
Increase in Text Scams Began in 2020
The IRS first noticed an increase in reports of smishing in the fall of 2020. The reported attacks, which always asked for personal and financial…
