As we approach the holiday season, scammers increase their attempts to steal, scam, and take your hard-earned money.
More people are stressed out, easier to fool, and more likely to donate to charities. However, many new fraudulent charities pop up, hoping to convince the public of their authenticity and then scam and take advantage of people. To protect your money and prevent being scammed, here are some common scams and fraudulent businesses you should beware of and avoid.
Fake charities are the fastest way scammers take your money. Most often, people will receive phone calls requesting money to help a charity. Common tele-scams right now are for COVID relief and aid, tragedies and natural disasters, and to help disabled persons. If you receive a call, requesting money, please do your research before providing any personal information and any funds. The IRS has provided a great tool to verify any charities; however, they are backlogged from April 2020. If you’d like to verify a charity, check out this link.
Another scam senior and immigrant taxpayers need to watch out for is IRS impersonations. These are typically through phone calls and mailers. The older population pays more attention to mailers, so even though this seems like a slightly out-dated scam, it still happens frequently. Additionally, phone scams steal personal information from seniors and individuals with potential language barriers. These callers threaten jail time, deportation, and taking away possessions like homes, etc. Scammers specifically target these individuals and ask misleading and confusing questions to increase the likelihood of gaining information that would give away banking, credit card, and other financial information.
Advertising gimmicks are another way scammers aim to steal your money.
Radio, internet, mailers, and voicemail ads claim you can end your tax debt with “pennies on the dollar” or “resettle and gain financial freedom.” These solicitors often charge hundreds to thousands of dollars promising the financial opportunity to be tax debt-free. Even though the IRS does work with taxpayers through their Offer in Compromise (OIC), they won’t go through additional business to settle the debt. Instead, you can go to their site here and see if you qualify. If you owe, you can also have your payments resettled at a later date until your financial situation changes, or have a payment plan tailored to your situation.
Because of the pandemic, we know that many Americans went on unemployment. We can expect more unemployment fraud scams which means taxpayers may receive calls claiming they will be getting additional unemployment. Scammers will also send emails or mailers claiming they are representing the company or business you may have previously worked for. These emails or mailers might have incorrect information, asking people to call and confirm or change the personal information. This is where scammers can steal your identity and financial information.
Also, as you’re in the market for getting your taxes done, please be cautious of businesses offering extreme deals or discounts, promising large returns.
Taxpayers need to beware of fraudulent tax preparers who are not willing to sign the prepared documents. By law, all tax preparers, accounts, etc. must have a valid PTIN (Preparer Tax Identification Number). You can request to see their PTIN to verify them as a tax preparer.
As with all things financial, we’ll try and help in any way we can. Please be cautious of providing personal information and donating to random charities. The IRS is a great source to verify businesses and charities to avoid scams. You can also learn about local scams through your local police department and city governments.