Crypto Scammers Impersonated the IRS

A group of scammers has tried to get crypto owners to give up their funds by impersonating the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

According to reports, as the IRS reportedly sent out tax notices to nearly 10,000 cryptocurrency holders, the scammers seized this situation and sent out their own fake notices while trying to pass off as the tax authority.

But the scammers did not produce any substantial damage, as there were only a few reports circulating online.

There have been only a few people that got bogus letters which claimed to have been signed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or a made-up agency such as the ‘Bureau of Tax Enforcement’.

It was also reported that the letters came in different formats, suggesting that more than one group pf scammers tried to pull this off. But what all these letters have in common is the fact that they try to convince the recipients to pay either ‘unpaid taxes’ or a fine, and that they will take legal action if they fail to pay up immediately.

It is yet unknown how scammers came to target cryptocurrency owners, though some suspect that it was due to a data leak or cookie syncing.

Although most of these scam letters do not have any specific personal information, there are some that make their letter to appear more explicit. Some letters featured facts about real debts, which were sourced from public databases in order to make the letter seem less suspicious.

But even though some letters might seem convincing, here are some key differences to spot a fake one:

• Government letters are sent in an official government envelope with an IRS seal.
• A real letter includes your tax reference number or a shortened version of it.
• No specific threats of deportation or arrest, and no immediately issuing of fines on the first warning will be mentioned in the letter.
• Genuine IRS letters feature detailed contact instructions for the IRS, as well as taxpayer rights.

Featured Image: FedSmith

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