We at B&J Bookkeeping & Taxes love to warn all of our small to mid-sized business clients on the latest scams. They can range from basic payment scams to ones that legitimately seem to be from the IRS. This particular one attempts to entice you by pretending to be the IRS. Below we will show you why should beware of the small business annual tax refund scam.
What is the Annual Tax Refund Scam?
You will receive an email with the subject of “Annual Tax – Refund.” The sender’s email will seem to be from “statement.alert@irs-official.gov.” This email actually sounds like a legitimate email because it has both “irs” and “.gov.” In it. The body of the email reads:
IRS Tax Return Payment
Please fill in your document to complete the refund.
A form is attached named “Informations(sic).pdf.” Filling out this form and sending it in is alleged to get you a tax refund.
How This Scam Actually Works
This scam can get you one of two (or both) ways:
1. You download the pdf and install some form of malware on your device.
2. You send in your sensitive tax information to the scammers and be subject to identity theft.
How to Avoid The Annual Tax Refund Scam
We spotted this as a scam right away through various methods. For example, the sender email shows as “statement.alert@irs-official.gov.” However, revealing the email showed that it was actually from “ucvrkinqaXXX@toketgedeXXXX.julia-XXXXX.com.” This email has absolutely nothing to do with the IRS or any affiliated agencies.
Additionally, as tax professionals, we know that the IRS would NEVER send us a pdf via email to get our refunds. We know they are done the traditional way through proper tax preparation, filing, and confirming a refund. Finally, we were curious. So we opened the pdf via safe means and this is jibber-jabber is what it showed. We did not click on the link in the document.
As always, be sure to contact your bookkeeper or accountant before filling out any communication with the alleged IRS or other tax agency.
To read more about the IRS and scams, click here for their official statement.
Small Business Bookkeeping in Houston
One of the best ways to avoid this IRS annual tax refund scam and others like it is with the use of an experienced bookkeeper. We are happy to help protect your hard earned funds by avoiding scams like this. Contact our team to learn more about our bookkeeping services.