IRS Warning of COVID-19 Scams

Fri, 19 Jun 2020 10:22:15 -0400
covid19, notice

With COVID-19 present in our day to day lives, malicious actors are taking this opportunity to scam people out of their personal and financial information. Recently the IRS Criminal Investigation Division (IRS-CI) has noticed various campaigns targeting Economic Impact Payments as well as other COVID-19 related scams.

The IRS-CI warns that some of these scams will offer more money from the government or even faster check delivery if the reader shares personal information and pays a small “processing fee.” The IRS warns that there are no shortcuts for stimulus checks. Malicious actors have also been trying to convince people to “apply” for a second stimulus check. According to a Forbes article, as of right now, there is currently no second stimulus check in the works.

Malicious actors are also setting up fake charities soliciting donations for individuals, groups and areas affected by COVID-19. Some malicious actors are even offering the chance to invest in companies working on a vaccine, promising that the “company” will dramatically increase in value as a result. Some are even selling fake products like at-home test kits, fake cures, vaccines, pills and giving advice on unproven treatments.

They also warn of phishing campaigns being sent out either through text or emails. These campaigns are using keywords like “Corona Virus,” “COVID-19,” and “Stimulus.” For these campaigns the IRS-CI says the malicious actors' targets are people's personal and financial information.

If you do receive any email that you suspect is a scam, please do not click on any URL or reply. Either of those actions confirms to the sender that your email address is valid. Please forward the message (with the email headers) to security@umbc.edu.

How do I forward full email headers?

https://wiki.umbc.edu/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=1867970

For more information, please check out:

https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-warns-against-covid-19-fraud-other-financial-schemes

https://www.forbes.com/sites/kellyphillipserb/2020/06/08/irs-warns-on-covid-19-scams-involving-stimulus-checks-fake-cures--more/#67cdbd937a98