Tips to avoid tax scams this tax season
Danyelle Burke North
YUMA, Ariz. (KYMA, KECY) – It’s tax day, and with tax season upon us, so are tax scams.
“Tax scams are big right now because the deadline is here to file you taxes and scammers know that people may be panicking and try to take advantage of that,” said Joe Ducey, Better Business Bureau consumer protection expert.
Ducey says three common types of tax scams to look out for are IRS impersonation, tax identity theft, and email phishing scams.
“The first one is saying you owe a certain amount of money and you didn’t pay it, and there are penalties involved if you don’t pay it now, and they may threaten you. The IRS doesn’t do that. The second thing is that you have a refund coming…and they need your bank account information to process the payment and put it in your bank. That’s not true. Both of those are big scams,” said Ducey.
Ducey warns locals that the IRS contacts you the old school method through a letter in the mail, so do not answer any emails, texts, or social media messages requesting personal or financial information. He shares a few other tips to avoid scams, including check websites carefully, watch for bad grammar, and when in doubt, contact the IRS directly if you think you’re a victim and gave your information out.
“I would contact the IRS first through the IRS.gov. I would also contact the Federal Trade Commission through FTC.gov. And I would also check your credit report. You can do that AnnualCreditReport.com and that may be something that you do in the future to see if anyone’s opened accounts in your name,” said Ducey.