The Internal Revenue Service’s Criminal Investigation Division issued a warning Thursday about a new wave of COVID-19 scams tied to the latest round of stimulus payments, especially targeting taxpayers in the District of Columbia.
The warning comes amid heightened tension in Washington after a riot last week at the Capitol that left five people dead and scores of people injured and led to an unprecedented second impeachment of President Trump on Wednesday. Washington is also bracing for possible protests next week around the time of the inauguration of President-elect Biden. National Guard troops have amassed at the Capitol to protect it.
The new COVID-19 scams echo some of the same schemes seen last year when the previous round of Economic Impact Payments was sent to taxpayers. However, in the last several months, the IRS’s CI unit said it has seen a variety of EIP scams and other financial schemes with the goal of stealing money and personal information from taxpayers. Criminals are taking advantage of the second EIP round, along with the impending tax-filing season, to trick honest taxpayers out of their money.
Srinivasa Vegi serves as president of data analytics and artificial intelligence at DMI, where he is responsible for business strategy, practice building and global project delivery. With 25-plus years of experience in information systems and 18-plus years of experience specific to data analytics, Dr. Vegi provides strategic guidance for customers to tame big data and achieve success using business intelligence, predictive analytics, AI and machine learning.
Prior to joining DMI, Dr. Vegi was at Wipro, in various capacities as head of analytics practice, APAC , head of analytics for global media and telecommunications, VP and head of the Integrated Solutions Group for Analytics Service Line and subsequently for the healthcare and lifesciences business unit.
As an accomplished business leader in strategic planning and execution, he excels at building niche competencies, delivering large transformational programs supporting growth and leveraging digital, big data, and cloud technologies impacting business outcomes. Dr. Vegi has helped many companies across varied business domains in their efforts to deploy data and analytics solutions.
Dr. Vegi earned his Ph.D. in computer science from Andhra University and his Bachelors in civil engineering from the National Institute of Technology, both in India. He has had several articles featured in trade journals.
Eileen Iles is a partner at Crowe, a consulting, technology and public accounting company.
William J. Rossi is a partner at Koss Olinger where he began his financial services career in 1997. His areas of expertise are investment management, estate planning, and creating income distribution strategies during retirement.
“IRS-CI wants to make sure all residents of the District are aware of the potential scams to help prevent them from becoming victimized,” said Kelly R. Jackson, special agent in charge of IRS-CI's Washington, D.C., Field Office, in a statement. “Please stay vigilant of potential scammers looking to steal your personal information and your money.”
Some of the common COVID-19 scams seen by IRS-CI agents include:
- Text messages asking taxpayers to disclose bank account information under the guise of receiving the $1,200 EIPs;
- Phishing scams using email, letters and social media messages with key words such as “coronavirus,” “COVID-19” and “stimulus” in different ways — these communications are sent to large numbers of people and aim to access personally identifying information and financial account information (including account numbers and passwords);
- The organized and unofficial sale of fake at-home COVID-19 test kits (along with offers to sell fake cures, vaccines, pills and professional medical advice regarding unproven COVID-19 treatments);
- Fake donation requests for individuals, groups and areas heavily affected by COVID-19;
- Bogus opportunities to invest in companies developing COVID-19 vaccines while promising that the “company” will dramatically increase in value as a result.
Taxpayers who get unsolicited emails or social media attempts to gather information that appear to be from either the IRS or an organization closely linked to the IRS should forward the message to phishing@irs.gov. The IRS is encouraging them not to communicate with potential scammers online or over the phone.
