Thousands of U.S. citizens lose a combined total in the millions when their personal information is uncovered by tax scammers and false entities claiming to be the IRS. Scammers use a variety of methods including standard mail, phone, email, texts, and even social media to reach their victims. There are ways to identify true communications from the IRS versus that of a scammer. Let\u2019s review the signs.<\/p>\n
How will the IRS contact me?<\/strong><\/p>\n The first step to prevent becoming a victim is to know how the IRS contacts taxpayers. The IRS does not initiate contact with or request personal information by fax, email, texts, or social media. If you have been reached by one of these forms of contact, do not click the message or submit a reply.<\/p>\n Most importantly, no matter how much you feel pressured, never provide any personal information through the above methods. Exchanging personal details will further position oneself at risk of becoming a victim.<\/p>\n Official IRS contact methods include:<\/p>\n Which tax scams should I be aware of?<\/strong><\/p>\n As technology advances, tax scams are becoming increasingly complex. In order to target unaware victims, scammers must constantly change tactics. As a result, 2017 has introduced new and never before seen schemes such as:<\/p>\n\n
\n