Possible Tax Rebate Scam

[KristineS]

Just saw this and thought I would share.

Apparently letters purporting to be from the Small Business Administration have been sent out asking small business owners for banking information in order to qualify for tax rebates. These letters are false and not really from the SBA.

Has anyone seen one of these yet?

You can read the whole story here (http://www.presstelegram.com/ci_11738949) and here (http://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/stories/2009/02/16/daily45.html).

The SBA asks that anyone who receives the letter report it to the SBA Office of the Inspector General Fraud Line at 1 (800) 767-0385, or OIGHotline@sba.gov.

[vangogh]

Sad, but not surprising.

One thing to keep in mind is that no one will ever need your bank account info for a rebate.

[Evan]

One thing to keep in mind is that no one will ever need your bank account info for a rebate.

Though many will assume it's for "direct deposit".

Tax rebates aren't dealt with by the SBA, but an actual taxing authority.

[vangogh]

Though many will assume it's for "direct deposit"

Good point. I hadn't thought of that, but I can see how it would fool people into thinking it necessary.

[KristineS]

That was my concern, that people would think it would be deposited directly into their account. The IRS does refunds that way now, so it's not so far out of the realm of possibility.

[nealrm]

There is one rule that I follow that will protect you from 99% of the scams. NEVER give out account, SSN, credit card, bank, ect information to anyone that contacts you in any manner. If someone calls stating they need the information, simply state you need to call them back. Then lookup the number YOURSELF. Credit card have contact information on the back of the card, the IRS and bank are in the phone books.

[Evan]

There is one rule that I follow that will protect you from 99% of the scams. NEVER give out account, SSN, credit card, bank, ect information to anyone that contacts you in any manner. If someone calls stating they need the information, simply state you need to call them back. Then lookup the number YOURSELF. Credit card have contact information on the back of the card, the IRS and bank are in the phone books.

Anyone calling you about your account, and then asking you to confirm your account information should be enough to raise a red flag and hang up.

[Steve B]

Good advice Nealrm - that's what I practice too. It makes it easy to remember.

Remember the old days when colleges and employers all printed your social security number on your paperwork and ID badges?

[nealrm]

Yeh,
I remember being called difficult and odd because I wouldn't let a gym use my SSN as its membership ID. We ended up compromising on using my phone number instead.

[MyITGuy]

Anyone calling you about your account, and then asking you to confirm your account information should be enough to raise a red flag and hang up.

Not in all cases, but it's always good to be smart about it.

I.E. I frequently get calls from my bank/visa's automated IVR when it detects what appears to be fraudulent activity on my account, so before they release any information they are asking me to confirm my account via billing zip code and last 4 of my SSN.

In another instance the business I work for makes hundreds of thousands of phone calls a week to consumers of large health care centers they recently visited, before we speak to them about their account we have to confirm who we are speaking to and verify their last 4 of SSN, date of birth or etc.

In both instances though, one would reasonably assume that it would be a valid call if they recently charged something to a CC, or recently visited a health facility. If not, you would hope someone would question/ask for details/investigate and etc...