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.
Michael Rosenberg is president of ai2hr.com.
Maiclaire Bolton Smith holds the position of senior leader, research and content strategy at CoreLogic. In this role, she leads the thought leadership team for the insurance division and works with the enterprise thought leadership team to reveal new insights about climate to the broader property ecosystem.
Prior to CoreLogic, Bolton Smith held previous positions at RMS, Emergency Management British Columbia, the International Seismological Centre and the Geological Survey of Canada. She is a seismologist by trade. She earned her bachelor’s in geophysics from the University of Western Ontario and her master’s in geophysics, specializing in earthquake seismology, from the University of Victoria.
Sameer leads a team dedicated to continuous growth and delivering a portfolio of services to leading insurance companies around the world. Sameer brings to this role particular expertise in the insurance industry, operations excellence, data analytics, and digital transformation. Sameer is also a certified Six Sigma Black Belt.
Sameer has been in leadership roles of increasing responsibility at Genpact for 15 years and was instrumental in setting up the insurance business at Genpact. His holistic approach to serving clients, and his expert grasp of digital technologies and deep domain expertise, have helped him lead large, successful engagements over the years.
Prior to Genpact, Sameer worked for seven years in the insurance business at General Electric, earning a Master Black Belt designation and serving as an operations leader in GE’s insurance vertical focused on claims and underwriting operations.
Sameer earned dual masters’ degrees in management and economics from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, India.
“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.
