HILLSBOROUGH, Fla. — The deadline to file taxes is April 15.
“Government imposters are out there trying to get your personal or financial information every day,” said Eric Olsen with Hillsborough Consumer Protection Services.
Officials expect tax scams to increase as the deadline to file nears.
“You have to be suspicious when it comes in over email, especially text, telephone calls or social media,” said Olsen.
Cyber criminals will use the personal information they get from your tax documents to steal your money and your identity.
One thing to watch out for if you have any tax debt you haven’t paid yet is if someone is claiming to be able to reduce the amount of taxes you owe through relief programs.
“Be aware of scams these days related to tax debt with promises of 'we’ll get you into specific government programs, we’ll definitely get your taxes reduced,' or asking you for money upfront or turning over your tax refund money to any organization,” said Leslie H. Tayne, financial attorney and credit and debt expert.
You might also receive calls, texts or emails from someone claiming to be with the IRS, saying that you need to pay your taxes immediately or they’ll get law enforcement involved.
Officials said that’s the most common scam they’re seeing right now.
“Reach out directly to the IRS. Now you’re bound to be on the phone waiting for quite some time, but at some point, they will pick up the phone, and you can speak to them directly about your tax debt and work out a payment plan,” said Tayne.
According to the IRS, thousands of people across the country have lost millions of dollars to tax scams. That’s why officials want to warn people to file through a legitimate website.
“You want to be very careful when you’re filing your taxes that you’re using secured websites in doing so. There’s a lot of tax fraud that occurs as a result of unsecured websites,” said Tayne.
“When filing online, there are imposters out there that claim to be IRS agents, even tax preparers that aren’t actually legitimate,” said Olsen.
There are afew steps you can take to be better protected.
“By having good passwords, better passwords, multi-factor authentication helps to protect your information,” said Olsen.
If you have any concerns, you can contact your local consumer protection services. There are different ways to report scams. For more details, click here.
