Avoid scams related to job termination, unemployment compensation and COVID-19 recovery payments

The IRS will never call, text, email or contact you on social media asking for personal or bank account information. Report suspicious emails to your HR department or the IRS.

MIAMI ( May 23, 2020 ) —

As we continue “Moving to a New Normal” in our COVID-19 recovery, Miami-Dade County warns all residents to avoid scams attempting to spread malicious software and commit financial fraud.

Recent warnings have been issued by the Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), U.S. Department of the Treasury, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the United States Secret Service (USSS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

With the rise in teleworking due to the pandemic, cyber criminals are targeting teleworking employees with fraudulent termination phishing emails and Video Tele-Conference (VTC) meeting invites, citing COVID-19 as the reason. People who are alarmed by the message may not notice that the spoofed email address looks like their company’s real email address.

The scams lure victims to click on malicious links that supposedly provide more information or online conferences about the victim’s termination or severance packages. Anyone receiving an email like this should immediately call their supervisor or Human Resources department.

The IRS will never call, text, email or contact you on social media asking for personal or bank account information, not even for payments related to the CARES Act. You also should never give out passwords or Personal Identification Numbers (PINs) for any teleconferencing or web meetings. When in doubt, call the sender using the phone number in your personal records. Never call the numbers in the suspicious emails.

Beware of all emails with attachments or links claiming to have special information about economic impact payments or refunds.

For details on economic impact payments, see the IRS Economic Impact Payments Information Center, which answers taxpayer questions about eligibility, payment amounts, what to expect, and when to expect it.

To learn more about COVID-19 scams, see the IRS’s article Do Not Let Scammers Get Your COVID-19 Economic Impact Payment.

To report an IRS-related coronavirus scam, go to the IRS Impersonation Scam Reporting webpage.

For other County updates, see miamidade.gov/coronavirus