Maybe you received an email from a tax preparer asking you to click a link and file your 2025 return — only it doesn’t lead to a legitimate service. Perhaps you got a text message from the IRS saying you have an unexpected refund you can claim — if you click. 

You’ve probably been targeted in a scam.

What You Need To Know

  • Tax scams can happen throughout the year, but they are especially prevalent in the run-up to Tax Day

  • To help consumers protect themselves, the nonprofit National Cybersecurity Alliance advises consumers to pay careful attention to the organizations or people they are giving sensitive financial information

  • Email and text scams are common with bad actors posing as tax professionals, the Internal Revenue Service or tax software companies

  • Clicking on unsolicited links may result in malicious software downloads

While IRS scams happen throughout the year, they are especially prevalent in the run-up to Tax Day.

“It’s a pretty ripe season for attackers right now,” said Cliff Steinhauer, director of information security and engagement at the nonprofit National Cybersecurity Alliance in Seattle. “There’s just so much sensitive data going back and forth and a lot of different ways to file your taxes, a lot of vendors that provide tax services, a lot of marketing that can slip in a fake version of products or services.” 

To help consumers protect themselves, Steinhauer advises consumers to pay careful attention to the organizations or people to whom they are giving sensitive financial information. Email and text scams are common. Entities posing as tax professionals, the IRS, state tax agencies and tax software companies may send unsolicited texts or emails.

The IRS says fraudulent emails claiming to be the agency often lure victims by offering fake tax refunds or threatening false legal or criminal charges for tax fraud. Clicking on unsolicited links can load malicious software onto the user's device, allowing hackers to load ransomware and prevent the legitimate owner from being able to access their accounts.

Malicious advertisers who claim to provide tax forms that are available from the IRS may also download malicious software when the user attempts to download a form or document. 

This year, some bad actors are using voice cloning software to pose as a spouse, colleague or even the IRS and call to ask for information they say is necessary to complete a tax form. 

“It might sound and look like it’s coming from their phone number,” Steinhauer said. “The key thing is they’re very targeted. They might know something about you. They know how to interact with you in a way that is believable.”

With a voice clone, he recommends hanging up and dialing the real phone number of the real person who was supposedly calling.

The IRS also warns of tax preparer impersonators this year. 

“Swindlers can pose as a ‘helpful’ third party and offer to help create a taxpayer’s IRS Individual Online Account at IRS.gov,” the IRS says on its website. “Third parties making these offers will try to steal a taxpayer’s personal information and try to submit fraudulent tax returns in the victim’s name to get a big refund.”