The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued another warning to taxpayers about a new scam mail scheme that attempts to trick people into believing the government owes them money.
“The new scheme involves a mailing coming in a cardboard envelope from a delivery service,” the IRS said in a statement on July 3. Inside the cardboard envelope is a letter on IRS masthead while fraudulently claiming that the notice is “in relation to your unclaimed refund.”
Dangling the prospect of recieving unclaimed tax refund dollars, the letter then asks taxpayers to provide sensitive personal information, including detailed photographs of drivers’ licenses - which is the data scammers are trying to obtain that can be used by thieves to try and obtain a tax refund or other sensitive financial information.
“This is just the latest in the long string of attempts by identity thieves posing as the IRS in hopes of tricking people into providing valuable personal information to steal identities and money, including tax refunds,” IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said in a statement.
The Warning Signs
Here are several telltale signs that the mailing is fraudulent:
One unusual feature, is that it tries to trick people to email very detailed personal information and tells recipients the need to provide “filing information” for their tax refunds.
It includes a variety of warning signs, including strange punctuation and a mixture of different fonts, with some requests being awkwardly worded, such as: “A Clear Phone of Your Driver’s License That Clearly Displays All Four (4) Angles, Taken in a Place with Good Lighting.”
The fraudulent notification then asks for additional information that is sensitive, with the wording of the request also awkward.
“You’ll Need to Get This to Get Your Refunds After Filing. These Must Be Given to a Filing Agent Who Will Help You Submit Your Unclaimed Property Claim. Once You Send All The Information Please Try to Be Checking Your Email for Response From The Agents Thanks,” the letter reads, according to the IRS.
It also includes some inaccurate information. For instance, it claims that the deadline for filing tax refunds for those who have an extension to file is Oct. 17, 2023, while the correct deadline is actually Oct. 16.
“These scams can come in through email, text or even in special mailings. People should be careful to watch out for red flags that clearly mark these as IRS scams,” Werfel said.
In Monday’s alert, the IRS went on to advised taxpayers to exercise caution when getting messages that may seem to be from acquaintances or loved ones, as these could potentially be sent from hijacked or compromised email or text accounts.
Such deceptive tactics continue to be widely used to deceive individuals and tax preparers through various fraudulent schemes. In order to avoid getting scammed, the IRS urged people to confirm the sender’s identity by employing an alternative means of communication.
For example, they should consider dialing a phone number they independently know to be accurate instead of using the number provided in the suspicious email or text message.