As Columbia County residents and business operators get ready for the tax filing season ahead, tax scams are popping up.
The tax filing season is a popular time for scammers to call and try to dupe unsuspecting taxpayers, according to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
These thieves often make threatening or alarming calls posing as the IRS to try to steal taxpayer money or personal information.
The IRS does not send out unsolicited e-mails, phone calls or texts asking for personal information.
The IRS has seen a recent increase in these scams, many of which originate outside the United States. To date, investigations have identified sites hosting hundreds of IRS-related phishing scams. These scam websites have been found to originate in at least 20 different countries.
Scammers claiming to be from the IRS, tell you that you are due a federal tax refund, and direct you to a website that appears to be a genuine IRS site. The bogus sites contain forms or interactive web pages similar to IRS forms and web pages.
Don’t be fooled! These sites and forms have been modified to request detailed personal and financial information from the e-mail recipients. E-mail addresses involving users in professional and educational communities seem to be heavily targeted.
The information obtained is then used to steal the taxpayer identity and financial assets….
