Officials say scams increase during tax season. Here is what you should look out for.
SAN ANTONIO — Monday marks the unofficial start of tax season. You still have two-and-a-half months to get your taxes done. But tax season means a big jump in tax scams.
The Better Business Bureau says fraudsters can attempt to steal your money or your identity in a variety of ways.
“I think the red flags is the unsolicited calls, texts, emails, anything asking for you to divulge information right away,” said Jason Meza, spokesperson for south central Texas BBB said. “If you’re asking for payment to get into some kind of a program or qualify for a program. We see this with social media a lot.”
IRS Criminal Investigation says in fiscal year 2022, they had more than 2,550 criminal cases. $31 billion were identified from tax and financial crimes. And the United States Sentencing Commission says out of every 10 sentenced for tax fraud offenses, about seven were men and three were women.
“They might have a lot of information that looks like it’s targeted to you. But again, be it the emergence of AI and the duplicated scripts, it’s making it harder to really detect what is real or not,” Meza said.
Look out for these tax scam warning signs. First, a big payday. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Watch out for demands and threats where they want you to pay now or else and don’t let you question or appeal what you own.
Finally, keep an eye on website links or odd or misspelled web links not associated with IRS.gov.
“Just protect your social, protect, your information, avoid the unsolicited calls and file early. It’s best to jump ahead of a potential con or fraud if you file ahead of time,” Meza said.
If you believe you have been a victim of a suspected scam you can report it with the BBB’s scam tracker.