Protect Yourself From Tax-Related Fraud

As you gear up to start your taxes, so are the identity thieves.  This time of year ID thieves are most often looking to get a refund from the government before their victim files their own taxes.  You won’t likely know that it’s happened until after you file and get a letter from the IRS telling you that a tax return with your social security number were already filed and your refund was sent someplace else. 

How does something like that happen?  Most of the time scammers will lure you into giving up your personal information by masking themselves as the IRS.  To protect yourself from becoming a victim, the IRS offers these warnings:

·       Be very careful when you get an unexpected communication from the IRS at the beginning of tax season.  If you get any tax notices and you don’t know if it’s real, contact the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit at 800-908-4490.

·       If you get a call on the phone from someone claiming to be from the IRS, don’t give them any personal information.  The IRS doesn’t make contact with taxpayers over the phone.  BUT scammers are known for posing as IRS agents to lure unsuspecting consumers to give up personal information that can help them steal identities.

·       The IRS also does not send emails or text messages to taxpayers.  If you receive an email from a group claiming to be the IRS do NOT reply or click any links inside the email.  Instead forward the email to phishing@irs.gov and then permanently delete the message from your inbox.

·       Finally if you do end up in a conversation with someone claiming to be from the IRS and they ask for your bank account PIN number, password or any other confidential information, that is a big clue that they are not from the IRS.  The government agency would never request such information.

If the IRS does need to get in touch with you, they will send you an official letter in the mail.  If you get a notification that someone else is using your social security number to file with the government you need to contact the IRS immediately.  Again, the number to the IRS Identity Protection Specialized Unit is 800-908-4490. 

If someone has stolen your social security number they may also try to open credit or fraudulently  utilize existing lines of credit, so it’s important to put a fraud alert on your credit reports with each of the credit reporting agencies:

·         Equifax – 800-525-6285

·         Experian – 888-397-3742

·         TransUnion – 800-680-7289

In addition you should create an Identity Theft Report with the FTC as well as filing a police report.

We all hope that we won’t fall victim to one of these scams, but identity thieves are becoming more aggressive and every year more and more people will fall victim.  It’s important to be proactive and guard ourselves by keeping a close eye on our credit.  One way to do that is to purchase a credit monitoring service like Identity Secure, but if you don’t want to pay for a service you should at least make it a practice to get an annual free credit report from AnnualCreditReport.com

For more information on tax-related identity theft visit the sites set up by the FTC or the IRS. 

^Amy