Beware: Stimulus Payment Scams

Here’s what you need to know about the stimulus payment processing in order to protect yourself from scammers:

   1. Be alert for phone scams. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Treasury Department, or any other government agency will not contact you by phone to collect information for stimulus payment processing. Period.

   2. Be alert for phishing scams. Government agencies will not email or text you to collect information for stimulus payment processing. Watch for suspicious emails or texts with links or attachments requesting information for processing stimulus deposits or checks. If you receive one, do not click the link or open the attachment. It’s a scam. Delete it.

   3. Be alert for state-related scams. State agencies will also not call, email or text you to collect information or a fee to process a stimulus payment. To date, no state has introduced its own version of a stimulus payment.

As of now, I am only aware of one communication a taxpayer will receive from the IRS. No later than 15 days after distributing a stimulus payment, the IRS is required to mail a notice to the taxpayer indicating the payment amount, whether the payment was mailed or deposited, and a phone number to call if the taxpayer did not receive the payment.

Victims or targets of stimulus payment scams should report it immediately to the Federal Trade Commission,www.ftc.gov/complaint. I will provide more information about the IRS’s plans to process stimulus payments as it becomes available.

This email only pertains to the direct deposits or checks from the Internal Revenue Service for $1,200 per adult and $500 per dependents.

There are other details to the program, our intent with this message is that you do not get scammed.

Best,

Doug Eaton

PS Feel free to share this with others that may benefit.