Another tip in a series provided by the Offices of Information Security, Information Systems & Computing and Audit, Compliance & Privacy

Part of the recently enacted American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 provides supplemental payments to individuals and families. As with tax refunds and other federal programs, these payments are highly attractive to scammers.

Be alert: The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the U.S. Department of the Treasury formally refer to these payments as “Economic Impact Payments” (EIP). Official communications never call them “stimulus checks” or “stimulus payments.”

Protect yourself against being scammed out of your economic impact payment!

Do:

• Track your economic impact payment at https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus/get-my-payment. This IRS tool gives you the status of your payment and how it is being distributed: via direct deposit to your banking account, paper check, or debit card delivered by postal mail.
• Contact your bank directly for any questions about direct deposit and when your payment will be credited to your account.
• Contact the Internal Revenue Service if your banking information or postal address has changed.

Don’t:

• Respond to email or social media posts claiming to be from the IRS. The IRS never uses email or social media to contact individuals.
• Give out personal or banking information to anyone who claims to get you a bigger or quicker payment.
• Supply any personal information to a third party to verify an EIP check or debit card prior to use. The IRS will never ask you to verify your personal or bank account information via email, social media, or SMS text message.

For additional tips, see the One Step Ahead link on the Information Security website: https://www.isc.upenn.edu/security/news-alerts#One-Step-Ahead.