Tax Time Means New Scams

Friday, Feb 1, 2008

LITTLE ROCK— As we enter the 2008 tax season, scam artists are coming up with new ways to take advantage of American taxpayers. Accordingly, Attorney General Dustin McDaniel issued this consumer alert to warn consumers about the latest tax scams.

This week the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) warned Americans about several new scams, including those that use refunds and audits as bait. In one scheme, con-artists, posing as IRS officials, call consumers and tell them that they can only receive a tax-refund if they provide the caller with bank account information for direct deposit. In another new scam, the consumer receives an email warning him that he will be audited and points him to a Web site to complete forms, which ask for personal account information. Accountants, tax firms and attorneys are also targets in this new wave of scams, as con-artists target them via emails, seemingly from the IRS, that contain instructions on how to download the latest changes to the tax code. If they follow the instructions and attempt to download the information, they may unknowingly download software that provides scammers with access to their hard-drives.

"Each year, scammers take advantage of tax-time to try and defraud honest, hard-working Arkansans," said McDaniel. "If you are contacted about your taxes, make sure you deal directly with the state or federal revenue offices rather than responding to an unsolicited request for information."

Here are some tips to avoid falling victim to one of these new tax schemes:

- Never provide information in response to an unsolicited request;
- Verify the request for information directly with the entity involved by contacting it using a phone number from an independent source;
- Remember that the IRS never attempts to collect sensitive information via telephone or email;
- Don't open emails, click on attachments or links if you don't know or trust the sender; and
- If you receive an unsolicited e-mail communication claiming to be from the IRS, forward the message to phishing@irs.gov. Log onto http://www.irs.gov/ to review instructions on how to forward suspicious emails. To date the IRS has received more than 33,000 such emails from American consumers.