Stimulus Payment Scams Surging, Warns IRS Criminal Division

The number of complaints about scams tied to stimulus payments rose sharply in June and July, the IRS’s criminal investigation division said in a news release Tuesday.

The government has so far issued three rounds of stimulus checks to help individuals during the coronavirus pandemic. The first two were included in legislation enacted in 2020 and the third was part of a package signed into law in March.

• “Even though taxpayers have received multiple rounds of Economic Impact Payments, we saw phishing scams surge this summer,” Jim Lee, chief of the criminal investigation division, said in the release. “The number ...