Pasadena Police Department put out a notice to warn taxpayers of scams during this tax season.
To identify and avoid online tax scams, police listed brief descriptions of the general tax scams.
The first type of tax scam is when scammers file fraudulent tax returns in the victim’s name. This type of tax scam occurs when the scammers find or receive information about the tax filer such as filer’s name, address, date of birth and social security number. The scammer then uses this information to file a fake tax return to cite as many deductions as possible to receive the largest amount possible for the tax return.
The second type of tax scam occurs when the scammer impersonates as an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agent. The scammer calls the victim and tries to convince the victim to resolve an issue or give out personal information. This includes paying a fine or providing their financial information to issue a refund. To gain the trust of the victims, the scammers generally find information about the victims through data breach or social networking websites.
The third type of tax scam includes the use of tax related spam, phasing emails and fraudulent websites to trick victims into providing login names, passwords or more information. Other emails or websites may also download malware into the victim’s computer.
Furthermore, taxpayers should take note and precaution by taking these simple steps.
1. Watch out for “spoofed” websites that look like official websites but are not.
2. The IRS will never call to demand an immediate payment or require you to use a specific method such as pre-loaded debit or credit cards, or wire transfers.
3. The IRS will never claim anything is “urgent” or request payment over the phone.
4. The IRS will not be hostile, insulting, or threatening, nor will they threaten to involve law enforcement in order to have you arrested or deported.
5. If you are not sure they are IRS agents, ask for the agent’s name. Then hang up and call the IRS back by using a phone number on their official website.
If you believe you’ve been a victim of identity theft or identity fraud, there are a couple of steps you should take:
- File a report with your local law enforcement agency.
- File a report with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) at www.identitytheft.gov.
- File a report with the three major credit bureaus and request a “fraud alert” for your account (Equifax – www.equifax.com, Experian – www.experian.com, TransUnion –www.transunion.com).
If you receive spam or a phishing email about your taxes, do not click on the links or open any attachments, instead forward the email to [email protected]. Other tax scams or frauds can be reported according to the directions on this page: https://www.irs.gov/Individuals/How-Do-You-Report-Suspected-Tax-Fraud-Activity%3F.
Further Information regarding Tax scam information from the IRS: https://www.irs.gov/uac/Tax-Scams-Consumer-Alerts.
Security Awareness for Tax Payers guide by the IRS: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p4524.pdf.
Identity theft information from the FTC: https://www.identitytheft.gov/.