The Internal Revenue Service is warning taxpayers to be aware of potential COVID-19-related financial scams.
The IRS Criminal Investigation division tracked down several potential scams to watch for, including criminals stealing personal information and money from COVID-19 stimulus checks.
The division also found several other schemes that include selling of fake at-home test kits, offers to sell fake cures, vaccines, pills and advice on unproven treatments for COVID-19. Another scam involves attempting to sell large quantities of medical supplies through through fake shops, websites, social media accounts and email addresses.
Fake charities online soliciting donations for individuals, groups and areas affected by the disease have also been common, along with sites offering opportunities to invest early in companies working on a vaccine.
And the IRS has also seen an increase in phishing schemes through emails, letters, texts and links. These phishing schemes are using keywords such as "coronavirus," "COVID-19", and "stimulus" in varying ways, and the messages are blasted to large groups of people at a time.
The public can report coronavirus-related scams to the National Center for Disaster Fraud Hotline at 1-866-720-5721, or fill out a form on their website, justice.gov/disaster-fraud.
Taxpayers can also report fraud or theft of their stimulus checks to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. Reports can be made online at TIPS.TIGTA.GOV.
Those who receive unsolicited emails or social media attempts to gather information that appear to be from the IRS should immediately forward the messages to [email protected].
