TUCSON, Ariz. — The IRS says there's a new scam that’s making its way across the country. Thieves are reaching out to victims via text message to try and trick them into giving up personal and banking information to get a fake $1,200 stimulus payment.
According to the IRS they’re working with states to remind tax payers that they don’t text citizens asking for bank account details for deposits. Officials say criminals are constantly using COVID-19 and the economic impact payment to steal identities.
The scam text message typically says:
“You have received a direct deposit of $1,200 from COVID-19 TREAS fund. Further action is required to accept this payment into your account. Continue here to accept this payment”
Then the text message will give you a phishing web link, that link takes you to a fake website and while the site might look official, it’s not.
If you believe you have a stimulus payment coming to you the IRS says the best thing to do is to go to the IRS.gov website through your own web search to check on your status.
If you do receive the text message officials say take a screen shot of the message and email it to phishing@irs.gov along with details of the date and time you got the message and the number, the text message came from.
The IRS will never send unsolicited texts or emails and won’t call you with threats of jail and lawsuits, or demand tax payments on gift cards. So far there’s no confirmation of a second stimulus payment for Americans congress is still in the process of finalizing a deal and that debate continues on Capital Hill.
IRS WEBSITE: https://www.irs.gov/ [irs.gov]
