Thousands of people across the nation fall victim to IRS scams every year especially during tax season, and the scammers are getting more creative.
According to the IRS website, in 2016 email and texting scams, designed to trick taxpayers into providing personal data, increased 400%.
Lubbock citizen, Joe Gayton said he has received many scam calls over the years but the one he got on Tuesday morning alarmed him, compelling him to call FBI to validate it was a ploy.
“I got a call from somebody, telling me they were with internal revenue, and if I didn’t call them back at the number they left me they were going to issue an arrest warrant for me,” Gayton said.
Lubbock Tax Attorney Steve A. Claus said the scammers are particularly looking to get their hands on W-2 forms this time of year.
“They are also going after companies, calling HR departments asking for a list of employees and their W-2 forms,” Claus said. “Those forms are a treasure chest for them, they can get your social security number, address, names.”
The Texas Tech CIO, Sam Segran, said the IT department sent out an email warning the students and faculty about the scams and the different avenues the scammers are taking.
“It’s no longer just a phone call, it’s an email, its a text alert, it’s social media, so they use whatever technologies that folks are going to be using, and so we want to make sure that folks are protected,” said Segran.
