IRS urges caution with email, social media and phones as part of ‘Dirty Dozen’ series

The Internal Revenue Service today continues its “Dirty Dozen” scam series with a warning to taxpayers to watch out for unexpected schemes in the form of emails, text or social media messages and phone calls.

Unscrupulous individuals seek to obtain personal information for the purpose of tax-related identity theft. Whether through a telephone call, text message or email, the con artist tries to convince the recipient that they need to provide Social Security numbers, bank account or credit card information or passwords. The scam may also include sending links that once clicked on can download malicious software that collects, or “mines” personal data.

Often, criminals pose as someone the recipient knows or frequently interacts with, whether a social or family relationship or a business contact. They gather much of this information from social media. A person’s contacts or ‘friends’ are used to…