AI Scammers Aim to Exploit the 2026 Tax Season
As the 2026 tax season gets into high gear, scammers are trying to cheat US taxpayers, increasingly with the help of tools derived from artificial intelligence.
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has detected a “big wave” of reports about scammers contacting innocent taxpayers – falsely warning that they are delinquent on tax payments and offering to help them with problems that do not even exist. Fraudsters may tell intended victims that they risk major penalties and attempt to point them to a non-existent “IRS liability reduction program,” where they steal people’s personal data.
To gain cooperation from their targets, fraudsters that their intended victims face arrest, deportation, or the loss of their driver’s license. If you receive such a request, do not be fooled. The crooks are after your personal data, and providing such information can lead to identity theft or cash theft, authorities say.
To gain cooperation from their targets, fraudsters have warned that their intended victims face arrest, deportation, or the loss of their driver’s license, according to the FCC. AI tools enable fraudsters to make phone calls that seem extremely professional, combining official-sounding scripts culled from the internet, with voices that sound authentic. Scammers may also browse people’s social media postings to find details that make their communications seem legitimate.
Technology has further empowered scammers by enabling them to make many thousands of phone calls at the same time.
According to the FTC, taxpayers should be assured that the IRS does not call people up unless the individual has first set up an appointment. The standard IRS procedure is to contact individuals by mail – first a letter from the IRS and second, a letter from a private debt collector.
After those two letters, it is possible that a private debt collector will call a taxpayer, but such contractors are prohibited from asking taxpayers to pay tax debts over the phone. Taxpayers who have questions about payment issues with the IRS are advised to call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 – and not to call any other phone number left by a caller who purports to represent the IRS.
That Party Invite Might be from a Scammer
Think twice before opening an email that invites you to a party, even if it looks like it’s from someone you know. You may not be as popular as you think.
There’s a spreading scam that mimics an invitation from the website PunchBowl (which calls itself “the gold standard in online invitations & greeting cards”). And once you click on its links, you run the danger of installing malicious software on your computer.
“Come And Join Us For A Get Together Party,” read one of the scam emails we received from a friend we hadn’t talked to in a while. “Wining and Dining Dinner Party,” it enticed. To get details, the email instructed us to “view the card.”
That’s where the trouble comes in. One person who clicked on a similar invitation said it then asked for a verification code, sent him to a Gmail log-in, and then sent out other fake invitations to everyone in his contact list.
Experts say the goal of the scam is either to install malware on your computer or steal personal data.
The scam is hitting unwitting consumers nationwide, with news articles in Manchester, New Hampshire and Las Vegas and a recent Facebook warning from the Amarillo Police Department in Texas.
If you get an unexpected party invite, be sure it’s real before clicking on any links. Check the address of the sender carefully, looking for typos. Punchbowl, which is aware of the scam, notes that all its online invitations and cards come from mail@mail.punchbowl.com. Remember that you can always send suspicious emails or text messages to hotline@eversafe.com. If you do get the spam email, delete it and report it.
Fraudsters are Now Impersonating Bank Fraud Investigators
Banks across the country – from Maryland to Indiana to Florida – are reporting an increase in bank impersonation scams, a common way for thieves to steal money from unsuspecting consumers.
The bank warnings follow an alert from the FBI late last year, which said it received more than 5,100 complaints about bank account takeover fraud, with losses of more than $262 million.
A Florida man was recently arrested after he allegedly posed as a Bank of America fraud investigator, stealing $40,000 from a Coral Springs woman in the scam.
EagleBank in Montgomery County, Maryland, reported to customers that fraudsters were impersonating its fraud unit and calling account holders to verify debit card transactions.
The scammers asked for sensitive information, including the last 8 digits of the debit card, its expiration date and security code, the owner’s Social Security number and email address. The fraudsters then had the account holders stay on the line while they stole money from their accounts, telling them to respond “yes” that the transactions were authentic.
The bank warned that it never seeks such sensitive information through direct phone calls, texts, or emails.
The FBI advises potential victims of such scams to call your bank as soon as possible and request a recall or reversal, as well as a hold harmless letter and indemnification documents to reduce your financial risk.
