Jul 23rd, 07:32

Tax Rebate Scam Alert, Part 1

You pick up the ringing phone, and the voice on the other end of the line greets you nicely and introduces himself as an IRS employee. There isn't a problem, he reassures you, but he just needs your Social Security and bank account numbers just so he can process your tax rebate just in time. You decide that he sounds trustworthy and official, so you release your information and hope that you get your tax rebates soon enough.

A smart move? Definitely not. Last April, the IRS issued a news release that warned taxpayers of e-mail and telephone scams, especially if they deal with advance stimulus payments. Most of these tax rebate scams pop up towards the tail-end of the tax return filing season, but con artists can remain active with their schemes even after that period.

Tax Rebate Phone Calls: One of the most common schemes being used today, this involves a scammer calling you up and claiming that he or she is an employee or an official representative of the IRS. The caller will then inform you that you have qualified for a huge tax refund, and that your bank account number will be needed so that the IRS can make a direct deposit of the funds to you.

If you refuse to disclose your bank account information, the caller will tell you that you won't be able to receive your tax refund. Watch out for these calls. The IRS never asks for information like this over the phone, since they need only refer to your tax return sheet to get your private information. If you give your bank account number to the caller, you can easily be a victim of identity theft, where the scammer flushes your bank account of your money and inflicts a lot of damage on your credit record.

Up next on GGS: The Rebate E-mail Scam and the Tax Law E-Mail Scam



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