Tax season is upon us and WaFd Bank is warning people to be careful about sharing information because scammers will try to deceive them.
Lisa K. Davey, vice president, Northeast Arizona Retail Division manager for WaFd Bank said scammers will use regular mail, telephone and emails to trick individuals and business owners. The IRS said every year thousands of people lose hundreds of dollars, as well as their personal information when they become victim to tax season scams. Davey said criminals most commonly prey on consumers via emails or with factitious websites that pose as authentic government agencies.
She said people need to know when they are filing their taxes that the IRS and governmental entities will not contact consumers. Fake emails often will have unusual attachments and threatening language directing the user to click a link to access their locked account. Davey said poor spelling and punctuation, as well as the type of email greeting can be signs of a scam. If a business name is misspelled and there is a non-personal email salutation including “sir” or “madam” instead of the person’s name that is another indication that the email might be a scam.
You can determine whether an email address and website are legitimate if you hover over a URL with your mouse to see the full website name and expand a message to reveal the full email address of the sender. Davey also recommends you carefully read each email before clicking a link or sharing any personal information.
WaFd Bank has a location iat 2198 E. Camelback Road. To learn more, visit wafdbank.com.
