1. SSN Scam

Fraudsters call claiming they can cancel or suspend your SSN for unpaid bills. The IRS says if you receive this call you should hang up! Never give your personal information over the phone unless you’re sure the caller is legitimate. Fraudsters ask for immediate payment through prepaid debit cards, iTunes gift cards, and wire transfers which are all signs of fraud according to the IRS. Check out what the IRS says to do if you receive this type of call.

2. Email Scam

First & foremost, the IRS will never send unsolicited emails and doesn’t email taxpayers about the status of their refund. These emails include subject lines like “Automatic Income Tax Reminder” or “Electronic Tax Return Reminder.” The email asks you to create a   “temporary password’ or “one-time password” so you can access files, but don’t do it because this is actually a malicious file. The emails look legitimate and takes you to a website that looks similar to the IRS’s actual site.

3. Phone Scam

There’s a new twist on the ever popular phone scam. Fraudsters call claiming to be from the Taxpayer Advocacy Service and even go as far as “spoofing” their number so it appears to actually be from the advocacy group. Fraudsters are looking for your personal information including Social Security number, and individual taxpayer identification number.

4. “Ghost” Scam

Make sure you fully vet a tax preparer before using their services. First, ask for their Preparer Tax Identification. They must have this to sign the return. Ghost preparers don’t actual sign the return because they don’t want a paper trail. They request cash, invent income to qualify you for tax credits, and the direct refunds into their accounts instead of yours.

5. Tax Transcript Scam

Fraudsters use tax transcripts as bait to get people to open documents that actually contain malware. They disguise themselves as banks & financial institutions and will include subject lines such as “Tax Account Transcript” or “tax transcript.”

It can be tough to determine if the IRS is really contacting you. The IRS says they almost always contact taxpayers through regular mail delivered by the United States Postal Service. Below are special circumstances where the IRS will call or visit in-person. Even with these circumstances, they usually first send several notice “letters” in the mail.