Doing your taxes is stressful enough, but this time of year you also have to be extra vigilant about IRS-impersonation scams.
“The uncertainty and stress of tax season was already fertile ground for scammers,” said Max Eddy, senior security analyst at PCMag. “Unfortunately, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has only created more opportunities for nefarious schemes.”
One of the best ways to avoid a scam of any kind is to slow down and verify everything. Scammers succeed in part by rushing you.
“They’ll often demand immediate payment or set an arbitrary deadline to scare people into giving in,” Eddy said.
Here is a look at some of the most common tax scams and how to avoid them.
Phishing scams
With a phishing scam, a thief tries to trick you into handing over your personal data by getting you to enter passwords or account information on phony websites. They may even try to get this information over the phone by posing as the IRS.
How to protect yourself: Never click on a link in an email unless you’re absolutely sure what the link is and who the email is from. Instead, type in the website yourself to go directly to the forms or information you need.
You should also double check the URL of any site you’re being directed to. In the case of the IRS, “if the URL doesn’t include IRS.gov, then it’s fake,” Eddy said. Report phishing scams at phishing@irs.gov.
