IRS Warns of Surge in Scams
AAFCPAs and AAF Wealth Management would like to make clients aware of the IRS’ recent warning that a surge of scam reports has hit its phishing@nullirs.gov account. The bureau has also noted a significant increase since the July 4th holiday.
The most common scams reported include:
The Economic Impact Payment. An economic impact scam is claiming that a third round of payments were distributed more than two years ago. It asks the recipient to click an embedded link, after which they are routed to a phishing website that steals sensitive information. This scam has circulated since 2021 but has evolved in time.
The Employee Retention Credit (ERC) Claim. An ERC scam claims to have the ability to quickly determine a taxpayer’s eligibility for the Employee Retention Credit. The ERC is a pandemic-related refundable tax credit for which only certain employers qualify. It comes with key eligibility factors along with reimbursement limitations and income tax implications. Many scammers will charge an up-front fee or a percentage of the ERC claim without an accurate assessment of eligibility. If you believe you may be eligible for the Employee Retention Credit, AAFCPAs and our trusted tax advisors can provide you with additional eligibility details along with guidance on properly claiming this credit.
The Online Tax Refund. Email and text scams have gained momentum this summer claiming the recipient has not received a tax refund now due to them. These messages insist the individual must claim their refund online. Most recently, this email includes a blue headline that reads, “Claim Your Tax Refund Online”.
The Tax Return Problem. A text message scam, which is typically sent from an official-sounding email account, claims that an issue was found on the recipient’s tax return. This campaign generally involves a series of messages offering to fix a problem but requires the recipient click a link.
The Delivery Service Letter. A scam letter is being sent in a carboard envelope with IRS masthead by a delivery service. This notification claims to be “in relation to your unclaimed refund.”
Be aware that the IRS will never initiate contact with taxpayers about tax refunds or bills through text, email, or social media. They will generally only contact you by postal mail. AAFCPAs advises that clients be on the lookout for telltale signs of phishing in both email and text messages including a sense of urgency, factual inaccuracies, poor grammar, and misspellings. We discourage clients from clicking links from questionable sources.
Please forward any tax scam emails to the IRS at phishing@nullirs.gov. We also encourage you to forward this alert to employees and loved ones to ensure they are and remain phishing savvy. Businesses can boost security awareness by training employees on common phishing techniques, sharing the organization’s suspicious email response protocol, and reminding staff to always remain vigilant.
How may we help?
AAFCPAs conducts IT Risk/Cyber Security Assessments and offers Vulnerability Management as a Service (VMaaS) solutions to pinpoint potential exposures, to help organizations comply with government and industry regulations, and to boost organizational awareness. We also work with decision makers to devise security practices and protocols that safeguard your intellectual property, reputation, and bottom line.
If you have any questions, please contact Vassilis Kontoglis, Partner, Automation, Analytics, & IT Security at 774.512.4069 or vkontoglis@nullaafcpa.com, Daniel Seaman, CPA, Tax Partner at 774.512.4025 or dseaman@nullaafcpa.com—or your AAFCPAs partner.
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