United States Attorney William M. McSwain and the IRS issued a public warning last week about potential scams related to your stimulus checks.
What’s happening:
- Millions of Americans will start receiving stimulus checks this week to help recover from the coronavirus pandemic, which has forced millions of Americans out of work as people practice social distancing and self-quarantine.
- Most payments will be delivered through direct deposit. But that hasn’t stopped fraudsters from attempting to exploit your situation. In fact, scammers will try to take your money through emails, social media, robocalls and text messages, according to the IRS.
- McSwain said: “It is paramount that we get this much-needed money safely into the hands of Americans in order to ease some of the pain from the pandemic. The unfortunate reality is that no matter what is going on in the world, fraudsters will look for opportunities to steal. But anybody who tries to take advantage of the pandemic in this manner will feel the full weight of federal law enforcement.”
- Michael Montanez, acting special agent in charge of the Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation Philadelphia Field Office, said: “Unfortunately, there are fraudsters out there who will attempt to victimize vulnerable people during these trying times. Everyone should be wary of swindlers trying to steal their COVID-19 economic impact payment, as well as crooked individuals trying to take advantage of the crisis by tricking people into unnecessarily turning over their personal, sensitive information. All Americans should be cautious in this regard and it is asked that everyone also be on the lookout for the interests of the elderly and other susceptible family members and friends.”
More scams over COVID-19
- The FBI has also issued a warning about potential scams related to COVID-19. Some of those scams include individuals selling fake cures to fix COVID-19 or online offers for vaccinations and test kits that haven’t been verified.
- Social media and apps can also be full of scams. For example, fake mobile apps could include malware that steal and track your date, according to the FBI.