Scammers and identity thieves are always adapting their scams.  One of their staples is where they contact you by phone posing as an IRS representative who tells you that you will be arrested if you do not pay fictional overdue taxes.  While many people have fallen for this scam, particularly because their Caller Id has been manipulated through “spoofing” to make the call appear as if it came from the IRS, more and more people are recognizing that this is a scam.  One way to know whether or not it is the IRS calling you to collect overdue taxes is to recognize that the IRS never initiates contact about collecting overdue taxes by phone so anytime you get such a call, it is from a scammer.

Now, however, the identity thieves are modifying the scam by sending people text messages that say that you are owed a tax rebate or refund rather than demanding a payment.  You are instructed in the email to click on a link to claim your refund.  Unfortunately, only two things can happen if you click on that link.  Either you will end up providing personal information that will result in your becoming a victim of identity theft or alternatively, merely by clicking on the link you will download dangerous malware such as ransomware.

TIPS

The IRS is not going to contact you by text message about anything so if you get such a text message, you should ignore it.  The IRS always initiates communications with taxpayers through a letter rather than an email, text message or phone call.

If you ever want to check on the status of a pending IRS refund, you can use this link https://sa.www4.irs.gov/irfof/lang/en/irfofgetstatus.jsp

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