By MATT PIKE
St. Joseph Post
As criminals make their living trying to take your money and information, scam calls continue to happen every day throughout the year
IRS Spokesman Michael Devine says that's because criminals know how to focus on what’s on people’s minds at any point during the year
During tax season, it's the IRS and your tax refund he says, but what about after the tax season?
"During the rest of the year, anytime something happens that gets the public's attention, a disaster they will shift from taxes to creating fake websites to get you to make donations to them rather than to a legitimate disaster or health agency," Devine tells KFEQ/St. Joseph Post.
During tax season, Devine says the most common scam the IRS fielded calls about revolved around using Economic Impact payments to get people's information.
"They would lure you into applying for a job and getting your personal information, then they would use that and other stake information to apply for unemployment benefits, maybe in another state," Devine explains. "So, you would get a form 1099-G which would say here's how much unemployment benefits you received from Nebraska or Iowa, even if you'd never been there."
Devine says one of the most common ways people are being scammed is through email, text, and phone scams.
Devine says the whole intention of any emails or texts you may get from the IRS are to scare you.
"They want you to go oh my gosh I'm in trouble with the IRS, these are the guys that got Caponed, what are they going to do to me," " Devine says. "Well, we're not going to do anything, except try and help you."
Devine says however, that the IRS will not email or text you, so that's one sign of a potential scam
He says the IRS also will also not call you, and if you get a call from someone claiming to be the IRS.
"Laugh and hang-up, we're not going to be calling you, we're not going to scare you and threaten you, we're going to work with you," Devine explains.
The only way you will hear from the IRS is through a letter in the mail.
Devine says if you receive any of these texts, calls, or emails, after hanging up or deleting them, if you fear what they say is legitimate you should reach out to the IRS.