New Scam for Tax Rebate Checks

I just found out about a new attempt by scammers to steal bank information from taxpayers. Apparently some people are being called on the telephone and asked to verify their bank account information for the stimulus rebate.

If you receive a call, you can safely assume the caller is up to no good. The IRS does not call taxpayers (or email them) to initiate any sort of communication. If the IRS needs additional information or wants to tell you about a correction or discrepancy, they will send you a letter. Here's the Service is saying about this new telephone scam:

"Some people have received phone calls about the economic stimulus payments, in which the caller impersonates an IRS employee. The caller asks the taxpayer for their Social Security and bank account numbers, claiming that the IRS needs the information to complete the processing of the taxayer's payment. In reality, the IRS uses the information contained on the taxpayer's tax return to process stimulus payments, rather than contacting taxpayers by phone or e-mail."

As for tips for handling such a call, the Prime Time Money blog has this suggestion: "If someone calls and says they are from the IRS or Social Security Administration (SSA) and they need information from you just hang up the phone. The IRS and SSA already have all the information they need on you, and they certainly wouldn’t call you up to ask you."

As for email scams, those are easy to identify too. The IRS has adopted a policy of never initiating contact via email, and so all emails claiming to come from the IRS can be safely ignored. Or better yet, you can forward the email to a special IRS inbox so the agency can track down the perpetrators at phishing@irs.gov. The agency prefers if you "show all headers" in the email before forwarding it, and they provide instructions on how to do this.