Scam and bad-advice safety checklist for refund season

[ResourceGuide]

Refund season attracts scams and viral bad advice. This checklist keeps RefundHub focused on safe, source-backed guidance.

Highlights

• Be cautious with unexpected messages that rush, threaten, promise oversized refunds, or ask for personal or financial information.
• Do not pay anyone from a forum to create an IRS account, verify your identity, call the IRS for you, or file a questionable credit claim.
• The IRS says it does not start contact by email, text, or social media to request personal or financial information.
• Big-refund social media advice should be treated as unverified unless it can be backed by official guidance or a qualified tax professional.

How to use this

• Post suspicious messages without private links, phone numbers, account numbers, or identity details.
• Ask for an official source link when someone gives a high-risk tax claim.
• If you suspect fraud or identity theft, use official IRS reporting paths.

Official/source links

• IRS tax scams
• Report phishing to the IRS
• IRS identity verification

RefundHub is an independent taxpayer-to-taxpayer community. This thread is informational and is not IRS, legal, tax, or financial advice.