Beware of Tax Scams & Protect Your Identity
Thousands of people have lost missions of dollars and their personal information to tax scams.
Tax scams take many shapes and forms.
Scammers use the regular mail, telephone, e-mail, text messages, fake websites, and social media to scam individuals and businesses.
Remember, the IRS DOES NOT initiate contact with taxpayers by telephone, e-mail. text message, or social media to request personal or financial information.
The IRS initiates contact through regilar mail delivered by the United States Postal System. Even if you receive an IRS Notice in the mail, call the IRS at 800-829-1040 to verify the notice.
The only website for the IRS is www.irs.gov.
You can protect yourself by:
Immediately hanging up on anyone who calls saying they are from the IRS.
Not replying and immediately deleting email, text, and social media messages claiming to be from the IRS.
Never giving out your personal or financial information over the phone or on the internet.
Shredding all documents which contain personal and financial information.
Using strong passwords that you change periodically.
To report a tax scam, call the IRS at 800-366-4484.