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Taxpayers are being warned of a scam where residents are asked to provide personal information in exchange for stimulus payments.
The alert comes from the National Association of Tax Professionals, who say that taxpayers are being sent text messages and other forms of communication by scammers pretending to be from the IRS.
Those communications request personal information from taxpayers, which they say is needed to send out economic impact payments, otherwise known as stimulus payments.
According to the IRS’ website, the agency does not initiate contact by phone or email, and will generally initiate contact through a letter sent via the U.S. Postal Service.
In addition, the agency reminds taxpayers that any stimulus payments will be issued automatically, either via direct deposit or paper check.
The scam comes as the IRS sent checks to taxpayers who hadn’t previously received one, or multiple, COVID stimulus payments during the pandemic. Approximately $2.4 billion in checks were sent to taxpayers this month, with payments of up to $1,400 possible, according to officials.
Taxpayers are urged never to share financial details like Social Security Numbers or bank account numbers in response to unsolicited texts or emails, and never to click on links contained within those emails.
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Any taxpayer who suspects they’ve been sent a scam email is encouraged to report it to the IRS by forwarding it to phishing@irs.gov.
Taxpayers can forward text messages to the IRS by texting 7726, and including the Caller ID and message.
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