Tax Season Scams Are Surging — Seniors Are the #1 Target

March 10, 2026 · 5 min read

Every year between January and April, tax-related scams explode. The IRS is the most feared — and most impersonated — agency in the federal government, and scammers know exactly how to weaponize that fear. A voicemail threatening arrest. A text about an unclaimed refund. An email that looks like it came straight from irs.gov.

In fiscal year 2025, the IRS Criminal Investigation division identified over $5.5 billion in tax fraud schemes. And while anyone can be targeted, the data is clear about who loses the most: adults over 60 lose more money per incident than any other age group, with a median loss of $9,000 for victims over 70 — compared to $500 for people in their 20s.

The four tax scams hitting hardest right now

1. The IRS impersonation call

This is the classic. Your phone rings — or a voicemail appears — from someone claiming to be an IRS agent. They say you owe back taxes and face immediate arrest, deportation, or loss of your Social Security benefits unless you pay right now. They want payment by gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency.

The IRS has reported millions of these calls since the scam first surged in 2013, and it hasn’t slowed down. Scammers now spoof real IRS phone numbers, making caller ID useless. Some use robocall technology to blast thousands of numbers per hour, waiting for someone to panic.

2. The fake refund text or email

Instead of threats, this version uses greed. You receive a text or email saying you’re owed a tax refund — sometimes a specific amount like $1,247.00 to make it feel real. There’s a link to “claim your refund” that leads to a convincing replica of the IRS website, asking for your Social Security number, bank routing number, and date of birth.

These phishing pages are getting harder to spot. Many now use HTTPS and .gov-looking domains. The IRS saw a 400% increase in phishing and smishing attempts during recent filing seasons.

3. The ghost tax preparer

This one targets seniors who need help filing. A “tax preparer” offers to do your return, often at a low price. They inflate your deductions to generate a bigger refund, then direct part of that refund to their own account. Or they steal your Social Security number and file fraudulent returns in future years.

The IRS requires all paid preparers to have a Preparer Tax Identification Number (PTIN) and to sign the return. If someone refuses to sign your return or won’t give you a copy, walk away.

4. The identity theft return

You go to file your taxes and get rejected — someone already filed using your Social Security number. Tax identity theft affected over 1.1 million taxpayers in 2024 according to the IRS, and seniors are disproportionately targeted because their Social Security numbers are more likely to have been exposed in data breaches over the years.

By the time you discover it, the scammer has already collected your refund. Resolving it with the IRS can take six months to a year.

What the IRS will never do

The IRS has been unusually direct about this, and it’s worth memorizing:

• The IRS will never call you to demand immediate payment. First contact about a tax debt always comes by mail through the U.S. Postal Service.
• The IRS will never threaten arrest. They don’t send local police to your door over unpaid taxes.
• The IRS will never demand gift cards or cryptocurrency. If anyone asks you to pay a tax bill with iTunes cards or Bitcoin, it’s a scam. Full stop.
• The IRS will never ask for your credit card number over the phone. They have secure online payment options at irs.gov — they don’t need your card number on a call.
• The IRS will never text or email you a link. Legitimate IRS communications don’t include clickable links in texts or unsolicited emails.

The same rules apply to other government agencies. If your parent is also getting calls about their benefits, read our companion piece on Medicare and Social Security scams.

Why these scams work so well on older adults

It’s not about intelligence or gullibility. Tax scams exploit a very specific psychological profile that’s more common in older adults:

• Higher trust in institutions. People who grew up in an era when a call from the IRS meant something real are more likely to take the threat seriously.
• Fear of the government. The IRS is legitimately intimidating. A threat of arrest or benefit loss triggers genuine fear, even in people who know they’ve done nothing wrong.
• Isolation. Seniors living alone don’t have someone in the next room to say “that sounds like a scam.” The scammer is counting on that isolation. The SSA’s Slam the Scam Day campaign focuses on exactly this problem.
• Complexity. Tax law is confusing. When someone speaks authoritatively about your “tax liability” or “unreported income,” it’s hard to know if they’re making it up.

What to do if you or a parent gets contacted

1. Don’t engage. Hang up the call. Delete the text. Don’t click the link. If it’s a voicemail, don’t call back the number they left.
2. Verify directly. If you’re worried about a real tax issue, call the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 or log into your account at irs.gov.
3. Report it. Forward phishing emails to phishing@irs.gov. Report phone scams to the Treasury Inspector General at 1-800-366-4484 or tigta.gov. File an FTC report at reportfraud.ftc.gov.
4. Protect your SSN. If you suspect your Social Security number has been compromised, request an Identity Protection PIN from the IRS. It prevents anyone else from filing a return with your number.

The gap between knowing and doing

Most people reading this already know the IRS doesn’t call and demand gift cards. The problem is that your 78-year-old mother isn’t reading this article. She’s getting a voicemail at 9 a.m. from a man with an official-sounding voice who says there’s a warrant for her arrest over unreported income — and she needs to pay $4,200 right now or U.S. Marshals will come to her home.

In that moment, she’s not going to Google “is this a scam.” She’s going to be scared. And if she doesn’t have someone to call — someone who answers immediately — she’s going to do what the voice told her to do. If you’re wondering how to close that gap, we wrote a step-by-step guide on how to protect your parents from scams.

That’s the window Antigrift is built for. When your parent gets a threatening voicemail about taxes, they forward it to our number and get an instant analysis: is this the IRS, or is it a scam? When they get a text with a link about their “refund,” they screenshot it and text it to us. No app, no login — just a text message and a straight answer in seconds.

Tax season will end in April. The scammers won’t.