Jessica Quindlen: [00:00:00] Welcome back to the Sound Cents podcast. I'm Jessica Quindlen. Today we are discussing tax scam prevention. I have two experts with us. Angie Maestas, our Manager of Card Fraud. Hello, Angie.
Angie Maestas: Hello.
Jessica Quindlen: And Lynzi Crippen, our Manager of Fraud Investigations. Hello, Lynzi.
Lynzi Crippen: Hello.
Jessica Quindlen: So happy to have both of you for, not the happiest subject, but a very important subject, especially this time of year. Lynzi, I want to start with you.
Why are tax scams becoming more common, especially this time of year during tax season?
Lynzi Crippen: It’s an opportune time to strike, so it's on everyone's mind. No one wants to be late to the IRS. No one wants to pay those additional fees. People are in a hurry on top of that to get their refund because they want to go purchase stuff.
So, scammers are looking to benefit off of your time crunch and hope that you don't question anything. So just a great time for them to be able to strike.
Jessica Quindlen: Oh, it's a bummer, but very true. Angie, what are some of the most common types of tax scams that people should be watching out for?
Angie Maestas: I think right now what we're seeing is phishing. Those are fraudulent emails [00:01:00] that the scammers send to you pretending to be the IRS. They look legitimate. They seem like something that the IRS might send to you.
The other thing we're seeing is smishing. Those are your text message or smartphone SMS messages that you get to your device. The whole point of any of those is to try to get you to click on not legitimate links to try and go to their sites and give up your information.
Jessica Quindlen: Wonderful. How do scammers typically contact their victims and what tactics do they use? I know you talked a bit about email and texting. Can you dive a bit more into that?
Lynzi Crippen: Yeah, so they will call, they will text, they will email. They'll use any method to try and convince you to give out your information. IRS.gov also states that the IRS will never email you for any issues. So, if you're being demanded or threatened to have to pay, hang up and call that institution or the IRS directly.
If you also look at the links in the text messages or hover over the link in the email, there will be some red flags in there. There are usually some typos in the [00:02:00] way it's spelt or it might say Ent.co versus Ent.com.
Jessica Quindlen: Hmm, I love that. It's also great that they say that they [IRS] will never email. I feel like that's such an easy, “Oh okay, then literally no email you need to worry about.” So that's really fantastic.
What red flags can help people identify a potential tax scam?
Angie Maestas: Scammers really like to mislead you about your tax refunds, credits, payments. They like to promise a big payday. For instance, “follow this link” or “do this special thing to get a bigger refund than maybe what you would have anticipated or expected.” Promise of payment is a good way to get people to click on a link.
The other thing is demands and threats. If they threaten you, you're more likely to act quickly, because you feel backed into a corner, and don’t have time to think through a decision. They like to threaten with law enforcement coming to your house or jail, forcing people to try and make a quick decision to give them that information or send them money.
Jessica Quindlen: Terrifying. Lynzi, are there specific scams targeting credit union members or [00:03:00] taxpayers, specifically in Colorado?
Lynzi Crippen: Not that we're aware of at this time. Most scammers are fishing for data and don't discriminate about where you live or who you are, right? They're looking for their payday, as Angie said. They're just looking to make money off of you. They don't care who you are.
Jessica Quindlen: Do they ever have information, or do you see scams happen more often before someone has filed their taxes versus after? Or is it sort of everybody's fair game this whole time?
Angie Maestas: I think it depends on the type of scam. With some scams, if your information has been previously compromised, they could potentially have some information about you to make themselves seem a little bit more legitimate.
Others are wide net scams. Let me send a text message to hundreds of phone numbers and see who bites. And that's not necessarily going to have any of your information. It's going to be, you have a big payday, come and click this link to file your taxes and people will do it.
Lynzi Crippen: And we're the largest credit union in Colorado, so there's a good chance you could be an Ent member.
Jessica Quindlen: Right. How can people protect their personal and financial information from scammers?
Angie Maestas: Beware [00:04:00] of phony emails. Fraudsters like to create those phishing emails that appear legitimate, but the website that they give you is not legitimate, as well as the email that it's coming from. You're not going to get an email from the IRS@gmail.com. They have a legitimate website and a legitimate email address that they would be reaching out to you if they did.
The other thing is verifying those payment instructions. Talk to your tax professional about how you would receive communication if at all and how you can expect to receive your payments.
The other thing is, is if you receive a letter in the mail from the IRS, you can go to IRS.gov and verify the information in that letter was sent to you for a specific purpose. If you can't verify it there, it's not legitimate.
Jessica Quindlen: Great. What should someone do if they suspect they have been targeted by a tax scam?
Lynzi Crippen: You should contact the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to report the IRS impersonation scam call. You can also report the caller ID and callback number to the [00:05:00] IRS by sending it to phishing@IRS.gov. The subject line should include IRS phone scam.
You also want to report the call to the Federal Trade Commission. If you, for whatever reason, provided your social, make sure you lock your social security number with all three credit bureaus, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion.
And if you provided your Ent account information or any account information, contact that financial institution as well and work with their fraud department to see if they can put any notes or restrictions on your account.
Jessica Quindlen: Thank you. That was very helpful. A bit overwhelming to take in. We will be sure to link a lot of that in the show notes for reference later. But thank you, that was so thorough.
Are there tools and resources available to help people stay informed about tax scams through the season? We're recording this now, but unfortunately, I feel that before April 15th, there may be more and before October when the second deadline is around for the kind of late filing. So how can people stay informed?
Angie Maestas: That's a great question. You know, we keep information on Ent.com under our financial education page, but the IRS.gov website [00:06:00] has specific resources on the current scams that are going around that they are seeing.
They have ways to report those scams, as well as ways to determine the information that you're getting is legitimate.
Jessica Quindlen: Great. How can credit unions like Ent support their members in preventing tax fraud?
Lynzi Crippen: Yeah, so at all times members should be diligent in protecting their personal identifying information. I've never seen a scam just target credit union members. They're [scammers] looking for a payday. They're looking to benefit off of you and target anyone.
So, if you're an Ent member, call us and contact our fraud department. We can walk you through that scam or the email that you've received and try and help guide you on if it is a legitimate email or not. You can contact us at any time. That's what we're here for.
Jessica Quindlen: And I think an important thing too is if Ent or the IRS or someone is actually trying to reach out to you, they are not going to get annoyed that you are verifying. Ent will not get frustrated that you called back and you're like, I just wanted to confirm.
No one's going to yell at you. No one's mad at you. In fact, we would prefer that because that means that you're being diligent.
Lynzi Crippen: We would. That is one of our favorite things is when people call [00:07:00] back in and ask for a certain person in a department. It lets us know you've done your job. You're protecting yourself.
Jessica Quindlen: Good. Absolutely. So, what final tips do you have for staying safe during tax season?
Angie Maestas: I think it's important to know that the IRS is never going to contact you by phone, email, text, or social media without you knowing. We often file our tax returns before the IRS feels the need to get in contact with us. So, social media is not a way that they're ever going to reach out to you or get in contact with you.
They do not accept gift cards or prepaid debit cards as a payment method. If somebody's asking you to do that, know that that's not a way that they would ask for payment.
They're not going to threaten to call law enforcement on you, or threaten jail time. I think those are some of the biggest things to look out for when you're trying to stay safe while filing your taxes.
Jessica Quindlen: That's great and so helpful. Well, that brings us to the end of our show. Angie, Lynzi, thank you so much for being here. It was wonderful having you both.
Angie Maestas: Thank you so much for having us.
Lynzi Crippen: Thank you.
Jessica Quindlen: And now for our new segment brought to you by Dave Logan, the iconic voice of the Denver Broncos.
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Jessica Quindlen: Thank you for listening to Sound Cents from Ent Credit Union. Be sure to follow our podcast as well as rate and review us. I'm Jessica Quindlen. I will see you in two weeks. Same time, same place.
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