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.
Ken Van Leeuwen founded Van Leeuwen & Company in 1997. As the firm's managing director, founder and financial advisor, he is responsible for the overall strategic direction of the firm as well as serving his clients, who include corporate executives, nonprofit organizations and foreign citizens who have made the U.S. their home.
Steph Tulley is the founder and CEO of Actuology. Tulley propels sustainability and success through: innovative economic strategy, dynamic consumer knowledge, and deep industry insight. Actuology's high-paced leader builds technology to augment human interaction, and future-proof the success of her industry.A New Yorker by birth and a quasi-Nomad by nature. When she is not working, Tulley has an adventurous streak. She has been known to spend countless hours playing in the field of natural history, and extreme wildlife photography.
Dror Pockard is Chief Strategy Officer at Earnix. He has over 30 years of experience building and leading start-ups, and in senior executive roles in large global companies. His expertise lies in strategy, business development, and M&A.
Prior to joining Earnix, Dror was CEO of Colibri Spindles Ltd., a company focused on connecting Industry 4.0 manufacturing devices with the emerging Internet of Things (IoT) market. Prior to that, he was CEO of eGlue Business Technologies, a start-up in the real-time interaction/next-best-offer space. And prior to that, he was CEO of Telrad Ltd. a telecom products and services company.
Earlier in his career, Dror held several leadership roles at Amdocs Inc., including: head of their Consulting and Systems Integration Organization, and president of the CRM division. Dror also established the Israeli office of Ernst Young Management Consulting and managed it for 3 years.
Dror holds an MBA in Information Systems and a BA in Management and Economics from Tel Aviv University, Israel. He is a mentor in the Israeli Microsoft Accelerator, and is a board member of the Branco Weiss Institute and Yuvalim, two charities in the education space.
“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.
