Don't Fall For These Last-Minute Tax Season Scams

Taxpayers aren't the only ones looking to greenbacks in this tax filing season.

The Internal Acquirement Service along with country tax agencies on Fri issued a warning for both revenue enhancement professionals and taxpayers of phishing scams "requesting last-minute deposit changes for refunds or account updates."

"Equally the 2022 tax filing season winds downward to the Apr 18 borderline, tax-related scams of various sorts are at their peak," the agency wrote. "The IRS urged both tax professionals and taxpayers to be on guard against suspicious activity."

The IRS said cybercriminals take been employing some new tactics this yr. One new scam, for instance, sees the criminals pose as taxpayers request their tax preparer to make a final-minute change to their refund destination, sending it to a prepaid debit card instead. The IRS is urging tax preparers to call clients and verbally confirm the asking should someone electronic mail with a last-minute alter.

The IRS is also recommending that revenue enhancement professionals "modify and strengthen" their email passwords to protect the accounts used to exchange sensitive information with clients.

"This is also the fourth dimension of year when taxpayers may encounter scam emails from their tax software provider or others request them to update online accounts," the IRS said. "Taxpayers should larn to recognize phishing emails, calls or texts that pose every bit familiar organizations such every bit banks, credit card companies, tax software providers or even the IRS." These scams aim to play a trick on taxpayers into handing over sensitive data such equally passwords, Social Security numbers, and bank business relationship or credit carte numbers.

E'er remember: The IRS does not ship unsolicited emails or request sensitive data via e-mail. Plus, yous should never open an attachment or link from an unknown or fishy source. If yous have received a suspicious email, you can forrad information technology to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov.

About Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo is PCMag's adept on fitness and smart dwelling products. Teaching yoga for nearly x years has helped her in evaluating a range of connected health products including fitness trackers, middle rate monitors, rowers, smart scales, stationary bikes, forcefulness training machines, treadmills, and more. Angela also tests smart home devices from her ranch in Florida, including air purifiers, kitchen appliances, and robot vacuums, simply to name a few.