How to check whether an IRS or Social Security message is real

How to check whether an IRS or Social Security message is real

"IRS: You have a pending tax refund of $342.18. Confirm your bank information here." Or the opposite: "Your Social Security number has been suspended due to suspicious activity. Call now to avoid legal action." Government agencies make an excellent disguise for fraud: everyone knows them, nobody wants trouble with them, and their real procedures are confusing enough that a fake message seems plausible.

These campaigns come in waves and follow the same skeleton as the fake unpaid-toll text and the fake package delivery text: a known name + money at stake (owed to you or by you) + urgency + a link. Learn to check one and you can check them all.

The key rule: government agencies don't do business through links in texts

Remember two things:

1. Don't send bank details, passwords, or payments through a link in an unexpected text or email that claims to come from the IRS or Social Security. The IRS says it doesn't send text messages or emails without your permission. The real online services are your IRS Online Account and your my Social Security account, which YOU open yourself by typing IRS.gov or SSA.gov into your browser and signing in with Login.gov or ID.me, as each site requires.
2. A real refund doesn't require you to "confirm your details" through a link. If the IRS really owes you money, nothing about it depends on a link in a text: you can check your notices and balance in your IRS Online Account. The IRS won't ask you for a card number by text.

Any message pushing you to tap a link to collect, pay, or "fix" something with a government agency is suspicious by default. Not because these agencies never contact anyone, but because a link in a message is not how they do business.

What the fake message looks like

• The refund. The most effective hook during tax season (roughly late January to April 15): "you have a pending refund," with a specific, believable amount. It takes you to a fake site imitating the IRS, where you enter your personal and bank details.
• The debt or the threat. "Final notice before legal action," "your Social Security number has been suspended," "your benefits will be stopped." It plays on fear instead of hope, but the destination is the same: your details and your card. The "suspended" Social Security number is the classic impostor line.
• The appointment or update. Versions that ask you to "confirm your appointment" or "update your information" through a link. They seem less urgent, but they're just as fake.
• Lookalike domains. Links containing "irs," "ssa," "tax-refund," or "benefits" plus hyphens and extra words, on domains that aren't the official ones. Real federal sites end in .gov, and the .gov has to be at the very end of the domain, not in the middle.
• A sender that proves nothing. As with any text: the sender can be faked and proves nothing either way.

How to check whether anything is real

The method is the usual one: close the message and go to the official channel yourself. With government agencies it's even clearer, because the official channels are unique and well known:

1. Don't tap the link. Close it.
2. Go to the official site yourself. Type IRS.gov or SSA.gov into your browser, or use the agency's official app if it has one. Don't get there through the link in the message or a hasty search.
3. Sign in and check. Look at your notices and balance in your IRS Online Account, or your benefits in your my Social Security account. If nothing there matches the message, it was almost certainly fake.
4. If you're not comfortable with online accounts, call the agency using a number you looked up yourself on IRS.gov or SSA.gov (never the one in the message), or make an appointment at a local office.

If something real exists, you handle it inside the official site. Never through a link in a message. It's exactly the same habit we recommend for checking a call or text from your bank.

What to do if you already tapped or gave information

• You only tapped and closed the page: almost certainly nothing happened. Report the message (see below), then block the number and delete it.
• You entered card details: call your bank now, block the card, and ask for a new one. Watch for charges over the following weeks.
• You entered your Login.gov or ID.me sign-in, or your Social Security number: change your password right away through the official site, check your accounts for changes you don't recognize (such as a new direct deposit account), and if your Social Security number was exposed, get a recovery plan at IdentityTheft.gov and consider a free credit freeze.
• Report it: send fake IRS texts and emails to [email protected] and forward fake texts to 7726 (SPAM), as the IRS explains; report Social Security impostors to the SSA Office of the Inspector General. You can also report it at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
• Report the sender's number in the spam numbers directory.

Quick questions

Does the IRS ever really send texts? The IRS says it doesn't send text messages or emails without your permission. So treat an IRS text you never signed up for, especially one with a link or a request for information, as fake. When in doubt, sign in to your IRS Online Account and check there. The IRS also keeps an overview of current tax scams that's worth a look.

And Social Security? Same approach: don't handle anything through a link or a phone number in an unexpected message. If a call or text says your Social Security number has been "suspended" or that your benefits will stop unless you act now, hang up or don't reply, check your my Social Security account yourself, and report it to the SSA Office of the Inspector General.

Are these scams more dangerous during tax season? Yes, because the context helps the scammer: everyone is thinking about their tax return, and a "pending refund" fits right in. From late January through April 15, be twice as suspicious of any tax message with a link.

Is an email with the official logo more trustworthy than a text? No. A logo can be copied in a minute, and the sender of an email can be faked too. Apply the same rule: no incoming links; go to the official site yourself.

If you've received one of these messages, report it in the NoCall spam numbers directory: these campaigns change their disguise with the season, and your report helps the next person recognize the pattern in time.