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.
As the CEO & President of Imagine360, Jeff spearheads the company's continued mission to reduce health plan costs for US employers, employees and their families. Jeff has three decades of experience in managing and growing healthcare services companies, Jeff was the global practice leader of the Health, Life Sciences and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) division for Wipro Limited and was the president and CEO of HealthPlan Holdings (HPH) — a leading healthcare solutions business serving payers, self-funded employers, unions, small businesses and individuals — its acquisition by Wipro.
Noah Gold is the general counsel and head of public policy of Prism Data, a cash flow underwriting infrastructure and analytics platform. Prior to joining Prism, he was the general counsel of Petal, a fintech credit card company. Before that, he was the assistant general counsel of a leading e-commerce software platform, and prior to that Noah previously practiced law at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP.
Jason Rosen is founder and CEO of Prism Data, a cash flow underwriting infrastructure and analytics platform. Prior to founding Prism, Jason was co-founder and CEO of Petal, a fintech credit card company. Jason served on the Consumer Advisory Board of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, sat on the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act panel for the Open Banking rulemaking, and is a member of the OCC's Project REACh. Jason previously practiced law at Sullivan & Cromwell and Gunderson Dettmer, where he represented financial institutions, technology companies and venture capitalists. Jason holds a JD from Harvard Law School.
“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.
