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IRS Warns Taxpayers to be Weary of Suspicious Emails and Texts

Rachel Beaird
February 17, 2022

With tax season upon us, fraud attempts are greatly increasing. It’s being reported, and we suspect will continue, that taxpayers are receiving emails and text messages that appears to be from the IRS. The agency has warned that these are almost always scams involving unemployment claims or stimulus checks.

Please be aware that the IRS will never contact you via email, text or social media and any message referring to refunds or payments is from an impersonator. These scams often include fraudulent links that may appear as a COVID-19 resource or tax tool, but once clicked are actually cyber attacks used to steal personal identity information, your tax refund, or even money from you directly.

Similarly, personal information and/or payment details should never be given over the phone as phone calls seemingly coming from the IRS can also be faked. The IRS will also never issue an arrest warrant due to outstanding payments over the phone and any such threats are incentives for phishing scams. Should the IRS ever need to contact you, it is most commonly done through snail mail and all payments should be made only to the U.S. Treasury.

When in doubt, err on the side of caution and assume any message soliciting personal information is a scam. Should you receive one of these messages, the agency urges you to take a screenshot of it and email it to phishing@irs.gov, along with the date and time you received it and your phone number. Do the same thing with potentially fraudulent emails, adding them as an attachment to the same email address.

Please call your tax advisor if you have any questions regarding potential fraud or solicitations from the IRS.

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