Ask Kim
Watch Out for Tax-Rebate Scams
Don't be lured into giving your personal information to identity thieves posing as the IRS.
By Kimberly Lankford, Contributing Editor, Kiplinger's Personal Finance
May 29, 2008
I received a very realistic-looking e-mail with the IRS logo saying that I needed to fill out a form to receive my stimulus payment, with a link to a form asking for a lot of personal information. It looked suspicious, but I haven't received my rebate check yet, so I'm wondering if this is possibly real or if it's a scam?
Your gut instinct was correct: It is a scam.
The scam artists are creative about their pitches and love to use current events as a ploy to get your Social Security number and other personal information then steal your identity. These days, they're also sending official-looking e-mails that seem to be from presidential candidates or charities supporting victims of the Chinese and Myanmar disasters.
The ID thieves send some of their pitches through e-mail -- asking people to submit information to get their rebate or tax refund. And some work the phones. Other people have reported receiving phone calls from someone claiming to be from the IRS, asking for their Social Security and bank account numbers and claiming the IRS needs the information to process their payment.
The IRS won't call or e-mail you asking for personal information, and you don't need to fill out a special form to get your tax rebate. Instead, your rebate will be sent to you automatically if you filed your 2007 federal tax return, and your tax return includes your Social Security number, address and, in some cases, direct-deposit information.
For more information about when to expect your rebate, see Will My Rebate Check Ever Come? To check the status of your check, use the IRS's Where's My Stimulus Payment? tool. You'll need to type in your Social Security number, the type of return you filed and the number of exemptions you claimed to get the information about your rebate. And for questions about your payment, call the toll-free Rebate Hotline at 866-234-2942 (although you may need to wait on hold for a long time).
For more information about ID theft, see Are You Protecting Your Identity? and take our ID Theft Quiz.
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