Good Morning America reported this morning that there is a new scam where scammers send emails with links to phony IRS websites.
The scammer gets you to click on the phony website, file your taxes electronically, and then at the point of you submitting your file, the scammer comes in and changes your bank account information with their bank account information. Apparently, this is a really easy thing to do, because the IRS requires so little identity verification to file your taxes. It figures that the federal government would screw up on something that could be EASILY preventable.

HOW TO PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING TO YOU: (taken from the GMA website)

Electronic filers should follow these guidelines:

• Do not answer e-mail tax refund offers.
• File electronically only through the secure IRS.gov Web site.
• If necessary, call the IRS’ toll free number, 1-800-829-1040, to make sure the site is affiliated with the agency.

MY SOLUTION TO THIS PROBLEM:

This scam can easily be preventable. Every taxpaying citizen should be provided with a pin number. This pin number allows you to complete the transacation and verifies that it is REALLY YOU filing your taxes.

Again, make sure that you go through irs.gov to find their approved e-filing websites. Don’t even search on a search engine for the cheapest site. Just because Google has indexed it, doesn’t mean it’s a legitimate site.