Scammers are trying to take advantage of an IRS plan to distribute billions of dollars in COVID-era tax credits. 

The IRS did announce recently that one million taxpayers who were eligible for the $1,400 Recovery Rebate Credit in 2021, never claimed it. 

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Those people will get automatic payments via direct deposit or as a paper check in the mail.

Payments are expected to arrive this month and the people getting them don’t need to do anything to receive the credit.

All that is real. 

Scammers are seizing on this by sending out scam texts trying to confuse you.

168飞艇官方网站图片
(Text message scam asking people to click a link to confirm their eligibility status for stimulus reimbursement.)
 168飞艇官方网站图片
(Text message scam asking people to click a link to confirm their eligibility status for stimulus reimbursement.)

5 On Your Side got two of them this week promising these Recovery Rebate Credit payments, if you provide personal information. 

There are a couple of tell-tale signs these are fake.

The most obvious is who they're from: random Outlook and Hotmail accounts instead of an official government email address.

The URL included with the text is a bit more tricky.

It has .gov in it to make it look like an official government website, but the link ends in .com meaning it is not an official government site.

Remember, the IRS will not contact you by text message or social media asking for personal or financial information.