Paying taxes is just about the least favorite thing for most people. Getting scammed on a tax subject is even worse, but a new Making Work Pay Refund scam is going around and you need to be aware of it so that you don’t fall prey.
There are criminals and then there are criminals with nerve. Getting emails from some alleged Nigerian Oil Minister is one thing, but there is an entirely new class of online criminal that is sending out alleged emails from the Internal Revenue Service. Yes, fake IRS emails! Talk about having some big chutzpah. Regardless, many people are falling for these scam emails and running into trouble.
The first thing you need to understand is the IRS does not send emails to taxpayers. Ask yourself a quick question. How would the IRS know your email address? Paranoid delusions aside, the agency does not know your email address. Any email allegedly sent by the IRS is a scam, pure and simple. If you have doubts, pick up the phone and call the IRS to confirm the contact. They’ll verify they don’t send emails and didn’t contact you.
So, what is this latest scam? The Making Work Pay scam is a takeoff of part of the stimulus package. In that package, wage earners had their taxes cut about $50 a month. This cut, however, appears automatically on your paycheck. It is deducted from your withholdings. The scam involves an email that says you are owed the refund. To get it, you are asked to send your legal name, social security number and bank account number among other information.
As you can imagine, providing such information is effectively giving a scam artist license to steal your identity. In some cases, the individual may be able to access your bank account and remove money. Regardless of what they do, it is going to be bad for you and end up taking time and money away from you.
Be smart. Don’t fall for scam emails from the IRS. Remember, the IRS doesn’t send emails to taxpayers!
Thomas Ajava writes for
CincinnattiOhioTaxAttorneys.com - your online resource for tax attorneys in Cincinnatti, Ohio.
