The IRS has been warning the taxpayers to be aware of all the scams that have come to the forefront in the wake of the stimulus check payments. This has resulted in several facades involving fake job offers and tax refunds- with the criminals continuing to use the current health crisis as a means of stealing cash as well as data.
Chuck Rettig, the IRS Commissioner, did mention in a bulletin that most of the scammers did continue on using the pandemic as a major device that was used to confuse or scare potential victims into delivering all of their money or private information in their hands.
Beware of Stimulus Check Scams- IRS Notifies
Rettig further urged the American citizens to be heavily skeptical of suspicious texts, calls, or e-mails that would promise nonexistent stimulus check benefits. He also suggested that citizens should definitely verify any information they did receive from such dubious mails through a government website such as IRS.gov- which is trusted.
As it turns out, the federal government has already issued the three rounds of stimulus check payments and most of the eligible people have already received their checks, as mentioned by the IRS. But there are thieves who have been using the stimulus payments in order to lure victims and then pose a threat to their money and information. It has also been reported that people who were missing out on stimulus payments were then able to claim the Recovery Rebate Credit for the remainder of their 2020 or 2021 tax return. But they still could be waiting for their refund.
There have been several fake job offers that have been posted on social media- which have further enticed people to share all of their personal information- as mentioned by the IRS. This definitely creates a major tax risk because criminals would be able to use the data usually required for stimulus check payments to file a fraudulent tax return in the name of the victim.
