THE FINE PRINT
Globe Staff,Updated May 4, 2021
E-mails
seeking personal information such as a Social Security number are a
common tactic of tax scammers. Jenny Kane/Associated Press
With
the deadline for filing income tax returns looming on May 17 — it was
extended by a month because of the pandemic — the Internal Revenue
Service is warning of scam artists constantly trying to steal your money
and your personal financial information — now and year-round.
“Be
on guard at all times and look out for others,” particularly seniors
and others who may be especially vulnerable, the IRS says.
Tax time or not, it’s always important to be vigilant.
“Nobody
is immune to scams,” said Lucilia Prates, statewide director of Senior
Medicare Patrol, a Lawrence-based nonprofit that counsels seniors.
“Everyone is vulnerable.”
Unscrupulous tax return preparers
Watch
out for any preparers who won’t sign your tax return, known as “ghost
preparers.” They may expose you to serious filing mistakes as well as
possible tax fraud and loss of your refund.
Unscrupulous
preparers may promise inflated refunds by claiming fake tax credits.
Avoid preparers who ask you to sign a blank return, promise a big refund
upfront, or charge fees based on a percentage of the refund.
The IRS has a searchable listing of
preparers who are currently recognized by the IRS. You can also do a
background check on a preparer by looking online for reviews. The Better
Business Bureau may be a good place to start.
Resolving tax debt
If
you owe back taxes, be wary of any company making promises about
getting it resolved. These companies may exaggerate their ability to
settle tax debts, while charging pricey fees to submit an application to
the IRS for relief. The IRS accepts very few of these cases (known as
its “offer in compromise” program).
Prates said consumers should be similarly on guard when callers offer to reduce their credit card debt.
If you owe taxes, you can use an IRS online tool to see if you pre-qualify for the offer in compromise program.
Fake payments with repayment demands
Sometimes
criminals put a bogus refund into a taxpayer’s bank account, then call
the target posing as the IRS. The taxpayer is told that there’s been an
error and that the IRS needs the money returned immediately to avoid
penalties and interest. The taxpayer is instructed to buy gift cards for
the amount of the refund.
Anytime someone asks you to buy a gift card and give them the serial numbers on the back, that’s a red flag, Prates said.
Threatening impersonator phone calls
A
popular ruse used by criminals is to call claiming to be the IRS and
demanding money. (The latest wrinkle to this is “spoofing,” in which
clever scammers manage to have a local telephone number, or even the
name of a government agency, utility, or other entity pop up on your
screen, to trick you into answering their calls.)
Callers
may threaten deportation or license revocation, trying to stir up fear
in their targets. The threats may come from “robocalls,” voice
recordings left on phones with instructions for returning the call.
The scammers are well practiced on how to manipulate you.
“They’re very good at it,” said said Betsey Crimmins, a Greater Boston Legal Services attorney. “They know just what to say.”
Best thing to do? Just hang up or don’t answer at all if you don’t recognize the number.
Payroll and HR scams
Scammers
may target your employer to steal tax information and compromise
business e-mail accounts. With access to your e-mail, the con artists
may change your direct deposit information to reroute deposits to an
account they control.
Make sure to monitor your bank accounts closely for any possible irregularities.
Phishing
Is that e-mail in your inbox really from whom it appears to be from? Is that text message on your phone screen legit?
Phishing
is when criminals impersonate legitimate organizations via e-mail or
text message to steal your sensitive information, such as passwords,
account numbers, or Social Security numbers.
They
create e-mail accounts for themselves that, at first glance, look like
the real thing, but are different by one letter or by the domain name
(.com, .org, .gov and so on).
Unless you are certain of their origin, don’t reply to e-mails, and don’t click on links or attachments in those e-mails.
Fake charities
Have
you received a telephone call or e-mail asking you to donate to a
charity that you are familiar with? Pause and consider whether it’s a
charity that merely sounds like the one you are familiar with.
Con
artist frequently set up fake charities and then solicit donations by
telephone, text, social media, e-mail, or even in-person. Often the
names they choose mimic the names of legitimate charities.
Before making that donation, talk about it with a family member, friend, or other person you trust.
“Don’t be in a hurry,” Prates said. “A legitimate charity can always wait another day or week.”
Social media scams
Scammers
cruise public social media sites in a cunning strategy to find the kind
of information that may fool you. For example, they may learn your
grandson’s name and the name of the college he’s attending.
One
familiar scam is to call a grandparent to say their grandson has been
arrested and needs money to be bailed out, while adding a sense of
legitimacy by casually referencing his name and college.
In one case I recently learned of, the scammers brought an “attorney” on the phone line to “explain” the situation.
Check
out the privacy settings on the social media site you use and consider
limiting the amount of personal information you post.
Stimulus or refund theft
One
reason criminals steal identities is to file false tax returns to
divert stimulus and refund checks to the wrong addresses and bank
accounts.
Senior Fraud
Seniors are more likely to be targeted and victimized by scammers than others.
“Older
adults are targeted because they may be retired and at home to pick up
the phone, and because they often have assets,” said Odette Williamson, a
staff attorney at the National Consumer Law Center in Boston.
Seniors
need to be alert to scammers trying to steal personal information by
calls, and by fake e-mails, text messages, websites, and social media.
Seniors
are also susceptible to fraud in personal and professional
relationships. Having a trusted friend or family member involved in a
senior’s affairs may be a deterrent.
Scams
and frauds against seniors are vastly underreported because many
victims feel too embarrassed to admit it and fear doing so could lead to
a loss of independence.
Scams targeting non-English speakers
Like
seniors, those with limited English proficiency are heavily targeted by
scammers intent on stealing personal financial information. Sometimes,
the con artists may already have pieces of information — the last four
digits of their Social Security number, for example — to make themselves
look legitimate.
Malware and ransomware
Malware
is a form of invasive software that may be inadvertently downloaded by a
user. Once downloaded, it tracks computer activity, and may lock
critical or sensitive data with its own encryption.
Victims
may receive a ransom request in a pop-up window demanding payment in
virtual currency such as Bitcoin in exchange for release of the
encrypted data. Scammers often use phishing e-mails to trick victims
into opening links or attachments containing the ransomware.
