INDIANAPOLIS — Tax time is underway, making it prime time for scammers to try to fool you.
The Internal Revenue Service has issued a warning about the most popular tax-related scams you could face this tax season.
“Tax time is scam time,” Luis Garcia, a spokesperson with the IRS told WRTV. “Unfortunately, any time there’s money involved, stimulus payments or tax refunds, the crooks come out of the woodwork.”
Text message scams
The IRS says, since last year, they’ve seen an uptick in text messages that impersonate the IRS.
“The IRS will never text you,” Garcia told WRTV.
If you receive an unsolicited SMS/text that appears to be from either the IRS or a program closely linked to the IRS, take a screenshot of the text message and include the screenshot in an email to phishing@irs.gov with the following information:
- Date/time/time zone they received the text message
- Phone number that received the text message
Email phishing scams
If you receive an unsolicited email that appears to be from either the IRS or a program closely linked to the IRS that is fraudulent, report it by sending it as an attachment to phishing@irs.gov. You can also visit the Report Phishing and Online Scams page.
“The IRS will never send you an email out of the blue,” Garcia said.
Do not click links or open attachments in unsolicited, suspicious or unexpected text messages — whether from the IRS, state tax agencies or others in the tax community.
“They’ll try to entice you by the carrot…
