Scammers are preying on people's fears and trying to bait you into giving up your hard earned money.
The Internal Revenue Service issued an alert to taxpayers and tax professionals to be on guard against fake emails purporting to contain an IRS tax bill related to the Affordable Care Act.
According to the IRS, scammers are sending a fraudulent version of CP2000 notices for tax year 2015. The IRS says the scam typically involves an email that includes the fake CP2000 as an attachment.
"To get a fake notice and have that stress and mental weight put on you is sad," said San Diego resident Sandy Brooks.
Brooks is a tax expert. She's also the treasurer of the Southern California Tax Professionals Society.
When Brooks came across the new tax scam, she took to social media to let people know. She's heard about the fake documents also showing up in the mail, which is the way the IRS communicates with taxpayers.
"I'm just trying to warn everybody to protect themselves," Brooks said.
Brooks told Team 10 you would normally get a CP2000 when income reported from third-party sources such as an employer doesn't match the income reported on the tax return.
In the scam, a fake document claims to be related to the Affordable Care Act and says there's a balance due instead of a proposed amount.
The IRS says the fraudulent notice also included a payment request that people send a check made out to "I.R.S." to the "Austin Processing Center" at a post office box address.
In a statement, an IRS spokesperson told Team 10: "Taxpayers or tax professionals who receive this scam email should forward it to phishing@irs.gov and then delete it from their email account."
