Anthony Sykes & Company

                 Criminals are often adjusting their tactics to confuse people about what they are really after. Other times, they will stick to what works. This is the case with scams related to the pandemic. Here are a few of the more common frauds that have been used in the past 2 years and continue to be seen. Your personal information is like cash, don’t just give it away to anyone.           Fake charities. This has always been a problem, but it grows when there is a crisis or tragedy. Criminals play on a person’s desire to help. Keep in mind that a legitimate charity will never pressure you into giving a donation. They will be happy to receive one at any time and will expect you to do your research. A legitimate charity will not ask for payment by gift card or by wire transfer. This is a hallmark of how scammers operate.           Fake job offers online. Many people who lost their jobs due to the pandemic were eager to get back to work again. Some applied to offers they s

             Phone scams are nothing new and we have all experienced a variation of this at some point. The idea is that there is a prerecorded message, or even an actual person calling, who pretends to be someone they are not. Criminals can use apps to fake their Caller ID number to make it seem like they are calling from the actual institution.           In this case they impersonate someone from the Internal Revenue Service ( IRS ). The messages are urgent and threatening in tone. They claim that law enforcement agencies will soon act unless the taxpayer follows their instructions. This is not how the IRS , or its collection agencies operate.           They will never demand immediate payment. Especially with methods like wire transfer, gift cards, or prepaid debit cards. They will never threaten to use law enforcement to arrest you for lack of tax payment. They will never ask for credit or debit cards over the phone. A taxpayer will always be able to question or appeal the

             Criminals never take a break, so we must always be vigilant and stay aware of their changing tactics. Each year the Internal Revenue Service ( IRS ) releases a Dirty Dozen list of the top 12 scams and abusive tax arrangements that taxpayers should be aware of and avoid. This post will look at text message scams.           These are messages sent to phones that claim to be from the IRS . Many of them reference COVID-19 or stimulus payments. They will also contain links to fake websites in the goal of stealing your personal information or loading a virus.           Always remember that the IRS will never send a surprise text to discuss tax matters, and they never send messages on social media. As a rule, it is best to not open attachments or links in suspicious or unexpected text messages. Make sure to independently verify that the source is legitimate.