Taxpayers should be aware of the recent increase in IRS-themed texting scams aimed at stealing personal and financial information.

So far in 2022, the IRS has identified thousands of fraudulent domains tied to multiple texting scams (known as smishing) targeting taxpayers. In recent months, IRS-themed smishing has increased exponentially.

Smishing campaigns target mobile phone users, and the scam messages often look like they’re coming from the IRS, offering lures like fake COVID relief, tax credits or help setting up an IRS online account. Recipients of these IRS-related scams should not act on or respond to them but should report them to phishing@irs.gov as instructed below.

In recent months, the IRS reports that smishing has reached an industrial scale and multiple large-scale smishing campaigns have delivered hundreds of thousands of IRS-themed messages in hours or a few days, far exceeding previous levels of activity.

Lately the scam texts often ask taxpayers to click a link where phishing websites will try to collect their information or potentially send malicious code onto their phones. The IRS does not send emails or text messages asking for personal or financial information or account numbers. These messages should all be red flags for taxpayers.