We all have been a scammer’s target at some point. Sometimes we outsmart them, and sometimes we get swindled. Scams fray our confidence in technology, financial systems, and institutions. One of the worst scams is when an identity thief claims to be the IRS. Today we will discuss a few tips to outsmart someone claiming to be the IRS.<\/p>\n
The IRS is aware of identity thieves who may try to contact taxpayers<\/strong> through fraudulent calls, emails, texts, and social media messages pretending to be the IRS. They recommend that taxpayers be aware of how the IRS usually contacts them.<\/p>\n The IRS first contact is usually by mail<\/a>. The IRS never sends unexpected or unsolicited texts. The IRS does not begin contact with taxpayers via email, texts, or social media. The IRS will never request personal or financial information via messages.<\/p>\n After mailing a written notice or letter, an IRS agent may call to confirm an appointment or discuss items for a scheduled audit. The IRS never leaves pre-recorded, urgent, or threatening messages.<\/p>\n If a taxpayer receives a suspicious letter or notice, they should check to see if it’s truly from the IRS. Taxpayers should log into their online accounts<\/a> to confirm or contact the IRS customer service for verification.<\/p>\n Spelling errors, incorrect grammar, links or attachments with unusual URLs, or threats to pay immediately are dead giveaways of tax scams. Taxpayers should be aware of the most common tax scams<\/strong>:<\/p>\n The unclaimed tax refund scam<\/strong> is the one most of us tend to fall victim to. In some cases, the government is withholding unclaimed funds from you. If you are uncertain whether you are being swindled, there are ways to search for unclaimed money via the proper institutions or databases.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n You may be able to file for unclaimed money owed to you, or that was owed to a deceased relative, if you are their legal heir. The following steps can be followed to search for unclaimed money:<\/p>\n According to the IRS official website<\/a>, the following databases are recommended:<\/p>\n Identity thieves have swindled people for centuries, but it is even worse in the 21st century. Remember, always rather be safe than sorry! If you fall victim and your Social Security number (SSN) or individual tax identification number (ITIN) was stolen<\/a>, immediately report it to IdentityTheft.gov.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We all have been a scammer’s target at some point. Sometimes we outsmart them, and sometimes we get swindled. Scams fray our confidence in technology, financial systems, and institutions. One of the worst scams is when an identity thief claims to be the IRS. Today we will discuss a few tips to outsmart someone claiming … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":7050,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_focus_keyword":"IRS,tax scams","rank_math_title":"","rank_math_description":"One of the worst scams is when an identity thief claims to be the IRS. Today we will discuss a few tips so you can outsmart someone claiming to be the IRS.","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6817","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6817","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6817"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6817\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7050"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6817"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6817"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ecoportal.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6817"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Email, text, and social media<\/h3>\n
Phone calls<\/h3>\n
Letters and notices<\/h3>\n
The most common tax scams<\/h2>\n
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Searching for unclaimed money from the government<\/h2>\n
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