Baby Boomers, the 60 years and older group, born between 1945-1960, are often the target of tax scams, 65% are confident they could detect a fraudulent tax-related email and 88% believe they could identify a scam phone call. Given the recent uptick in fraud due to COVID-19, it’s more important than ever to be hyper-aware.
We have a quick list of ways you are notified if you are the victim of tax fraud, according to a report we recently read, by an infamous document shredding company.
○ Their tax preparer/tax software alerted them that their return had already been filed: 25%
○ They received a letter or phone call from the IRS.
○ They received a tax form from an employer with whom they were unfamiliar.
○ They received an unexpected tax refund.
Although taxpayers say they found out they became a victim by receiving an alert from their cybersecurity monitoring company, more than half of taxpayers (58%) say they do not subscribe to a cybersecurity monitoring service and nearly two in five (37%) say they do. Of those who subscribe to a cybersecurity monitoring service, more than half (52%) say they do because they decided to pay for it themself to protect their identity.
For more information and statistics please feel free to read the 2020 report.
