Don't Be Fooled by Fake IRS Calls or Emails

Scammers regularly exploit the tax season to deceive victims into sending them money by masquerading as Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents and demanding payment for fake tax bills, reports the Washington Post. The IRS has a policy to never call consumers to demand such payment. The agency also has issued an advisory to employers about a phishing scam in which cybercriminals attempt to trick staff or other employees into revealing payroll information. The fraudsters send emails pretending to be executives requesting copies of W-2 forms for employees, which have addresses, Social Security numbers, income, and withholdings. The crooks exploit this information to file bogus tax returns or sell the data on the online black market. With this week being Tax Identity Theft Awareness Week, the Federal Trade Commission has teamed with various organizations to host free webinars and Twitter chats to help raise awareness of tax scams.