Moody warns of ‘drastic increase’ in tax scam reports
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (FLV) – Attorney General Ashley Moody warned Floridians to watch out for suspicious tax-related schemes as the 2023 tax season nears its end.
According to the U.S. Internal Revenue Service’s 2022 annual report, there was a more than 300% increase in reports of suspicious activity from 2021.
Moody touted her “Tax-Season Scams Series” that aims to provide Floridians tips on avoiding such scams.
“IRS reports of suspicious activity skyrocketed last year—up more than 300%,” Moody said. “To make sure Floridians are protected from common tax scams, I launched this series and hope that it continues to guide taxpayers as we move closer to the filing deadline.”
The final day to file federal income tax returns is April 18 for 2023’s season.
Moody’s office listed the below tips to guard against tax schemes:
Attorney General Ashley Moody’s office
- Fraudulent Tax Preparers: Fake tax preparers, often advertising the cheapest rates or promising the greatest refunds, aim to obtain a victim’s personal and financial information;
- Tax Identity Theft: When a bad actor uses, or attempts to use, personal information of another individual to commit tax fraud;
- Refund Recalculation Scheme: Phishing emails sent to targets that look like a tax-refund payment or a recalculation of a tax refund—attaching a link to input personal information to claim the refund; and
- IRS Imposter Scams: When a scammer pretends to be the IRS by spoofing caller ID, emails or regular mail to make targets believe the IRS is legitimately attempting to make contact—all in an attempt to phish for personal information.
Access “Tax-Season Scam Series” alerts here.
