Check's in the Mail, Scam's in the Email - National Consumers League

News worth celebrating: the Economic Stimulus Payments are in the process of being distributed – four whole days early!

The checks are being mailed to more than 130 million taxpayers as part of the *Economic Stimulus Act of 2008, an effort by President Bush to boost the economy.

Here’s the bad news: unfortunately, scammers are already trying to capitalize on the checks. NCL’s Fraud Center has already received such complaints from consumers. For a sample tax scam email that claims to be from the government, click on the image.

So, while we’re all thinking of things to do with our checks: pay the bills, put it in the bank, splurge on a new outfit, buy something special for the kids, be aware of con artists’ ploys.

Remember, to be suspicious of:

any emails or calls received from someone claiming to be from the IRS or any other government agency.
con artists claiming to be government representatives calling to initiate payment transfer of impending government tax “rebates”.

Have you received any of these types of fraudulent pitches? Report them here!

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.