IRS Warns of 'Ghost Tax Preparers'

TAMPA, Fla. — It's tax season, and that means it's tax scheme season.

While you work to file your taxes and await a return, crooks are working to trick you.

Cesar Yabor, a spokesman with the IRS, sat down with me to go over the most prevalent schemes he's seeing.

Beware, he warns, of what the IRS calls ghost preparers.

"They're getting their hands on your information, including potentially direct deposit information, your social security number, other kind of information that ID theft can arise from," Yabor said.

A ghost preparer is someone who takes money for preparing your taxes but doesn't have a tax preparer ID number and therefore doesn't sign the return. That's dangerous because if there is a problem on your return, the only one responsible is you.

Yabor said those with bad intentions seek out victims.

"Good old fashioned phone scams, " he said. "They particularly target the elderly and also migrant communities. This is a very difficult situation for both communities. Folks tend to be very trusting or perhaps even fearful of making mistakes on their own on their tax returns so they look to people who claim to be professional."

Keep in mind, if the IRS determines you don't qualify for a credit or deduction, you may have to pay it back - with interest. That's why it's important to have a legitimate tax preparer you can go back to if there's a problem with your taxes.

"These people are very cleaver," Yabor said. "They know how to handle social engineering, particularly on the elderly and it's important for younger people who are a little more savvy potentially to be able to help their younger family members prevent falling into traps like this."

© © 1998-2025 WFLA, Nexstar Broadcasting, Inc. All rights reserved.