{"id":3474,"date":"2020-04-16T09:16:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T14:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/?p=3474"},"modified":"2020-04-16T09:16:10","modified_gmt":"2020-04-16T14:16:10","slug":"taxpayers-should-be-aware-of-coronavirus-related-scams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/taxpayers-should-be-aware-of-coronavirus-related-scams\/","title":{"rendered":"Taxpayers should be aware of Coronavirus-related scams"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-drop-cap wp-block-paragraph\">Taxpayers should be on the lookout for IRS impersonation calls, texts and email phishing attempts about the coronavirus or COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments. These scams can lead to tax-related fraud and identity theft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Here\u2019s what taxpayers should know:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The IRS will not call, email or text you to verify or request your financial, banking or personal information.<\/li><li>Watch out for websites and social media attempts to request money or personal information. The official website is IRS.gov.<\/li><li>Don&#8217;t open surprise emails that look like they\u2019re coming from the IRS or click on attachments or links.<\/li><li>Taxpayers should not provide personal or financial information or engage with potential scammers online or over the phone.<\/li><li>Forward suspicious emails to <a href=\"mailto:phishing@irs.gov\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">phishing@irs.gov<\/a>, then delete.<\/li><li>Go to <a href=\"https:\/\/lnks.gd\/l\/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMjgsInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsImJ1bGxldGluX2lkIjoiMjAyMDA0MTYuMjAyMzUxODEiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy5pcnMuZ292L25ld3Nyb29tL2lycy1pc3N1ZXMtd2FybmluZy1hYm91dC1jb3JvbmF2aXJ1cy1yZWxhdGVkLXNjYW1zLXdhdGNoLW91dC1mb3Itc2NoZW1lcy10aWVkLXRvLWVjb25vbWljLWltcGFjdC1wYXltZW50cyJ9.oUjpsINvUFuNTaN7mYpSJIzDWEYorkpgvV4ej_Z5N_E\/br\/77481209869-l\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">IRS.gov<\/a> for the most up-to-date information.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Here\u2019s what people should know about the Economic Impact Payments:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>The IRS will automatically deposit Economic Impact Payments into the bank account taxpayers provided on their 2019 or 2018 tax return for a direct deposit of their tax refund.<\/li><li>Those without a direct deposit account on file may be able to provide their banking information online through a new secure tool, Get My Payment.<\/li><li>Anyone who is eligible for an Economic Impact Payment and doesn\u2019t provide direct deposit information will receive a payment mailed to the last address the IRS has on file.<\/li><li>The IRS does not charge a fee to issue the payment.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Scammers may:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Ask an individual to sign over their Economic Impact Payment check to them.<\/li><li>Ask for verification of personal or banking information.<\/li><li>Suggest that they can get someone tax refund or Economic Impact Payment faster by working on their behalf.<\/li><li>Issue a bogus check, often in an odd amount, then tell a person to call a number or verify information online in order to cash it.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Official IRS information about the COVID-19 pandemic and Economic Impact Payments can be found on the <a href=\"https:\/\/lnks.gd\/l\/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJidWxsZXRpbl9saW5rX2lkIjoxMjksInVyaSI6ImJwMjpjbGljayIsImJ1bGxldGluX2lkIjoiMjAyMDA0MTYuMjAyMzUxODEiLCJ1cmwiOiJodHRwczovL3d3dy5pcnMuZ292L2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzIn0.qaMH_X-8b7Amqh2nadeE5EDKPH3UJt-J7yASmiMyHds\/br\/77481209869-l\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Coronavirus Tax Relief<\/a> page on IRS.gov. The IRS encourages people to share this information with family and friends. Many people who normally don\u2019t normally file a tax return may not realize they\u2019re eligible for an Economic Impact Payment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Taxpayers should be on the lookout for IRS impersonation calls, texts and email phishing attempts about the coronavirus or COVID-19 Economic Impact Payments. These scams can lead to tax-related fraud and identity theft. Here\u2019s what taxpayers should know: The IRS will not call, email or text you to verify or request your financial, banking or [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3475,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"apple_news_api_created_at":"2020-04-16T14:16:16Z","apple_news_api_id":"b779d8d2-5da3-46cf-a146-5249237b32f9","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2020-04-16T14:16:16Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAD\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/w==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/At3nY0l2jRs-hRlJJI3sy-Q","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3474","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tax"],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3474","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3474"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3474\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3475"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3474"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3474"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cookco.us\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3474"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}