IRS Special Agent: Scammers using Tax Day to steal filers personal information
Anne McCloy, 18 May 2021
May 17th is Tax Day, and while you may be rushing to meet the deadline, the Internal Revenue Service is warning you to watch out for scammers.
Jonathan Larsen is Special Agent in Charge at IRS Criminal Investigations. This tax season, Larsen says scammers are using fear about COVID-19 and mishaps with stimulus money to fool you into handing over personal information.
“There’s been an increase in phishing schemes. Utilizing emails, letters, text links and they’re using key words like coronavirus, COVID-19 and stimulus in a variety of ways. These are blasted out to a variety of people known by these bad actors and their goal is simple, to steal your personal and financial information,” Larsen said.
An IRS spokesman tells WRGB, because of the tax deadline, it is even more important for filers to do their due diligence, and make sure they are using a trustworthy source to file their taxes.
All tax preparers are required to have an IRS Preparer Tax ID number or PTIN.
