In yet another effort to steal people’s information, scammers are using false coronavirus stimulus payments, the IRS says.
An elaborate phishing scam is sending text messages telling people that they’ve received a COVID-19 payment via direct deposit, but they need to supply their bank account information to receive it – the IRS never sends unsolicited texts or emails and never demands payment. Additionally, they do not threaten to have tax payers arrested – another long-standing scam.
"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 …,” the message reads, along with a link to a fake website, that closely resembles the “get my payment” page on the IRS.gov site.
“Criminals are relentlessly using COVID-19 and economic impact payments as cover to try to trick taxpayers out of their money or identities,” IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said in a Nov. 4 news release, according to the Sacramento Bee. “This scam is a new twist on those we’ve been seeing much of this year. We urge people to remain alert to these types of scams.”
The IRS advises taking a screenshot if you receive the scam text, and send it in an email to phishing@irs.gov along with the date, time and time zone you received the message, the phone number it came from and the phone number that received the message.