DARCEL D. CLARK DISTRICT ATTORNEY, BRONX COUNTY - AVOID SCAMS REGARDING COVID-19 FEDERAL RELIEF CHECKS

  The U.S. government will provide stimulus checks to taxpayers as part of its response to COVID-19. However, people should exercise caution in order to avoid scammers who pretend to be from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) or Social Security Administration (SSA). Residents should be wary of scammers that call about travel and vacation cancellations regarding COVID-19, as well as mobile texting scams. 

 The Office of the Bronx District Attorney is committed to protecting residents from scams and other fraudulent activity during the current COVID-19 crisis. If you believe you have been a victim of a scam please call our office at 1-718-590-2260. You can also report scams at FTC.gov/complaint.

 Below is information from the Federal Trade Commission on how to avoid scams regarding relief checks:

 • You don’t need to do anything. As long as you filed taxes for 2018 and/or 2019, the federal government likely has the information it needs to send you your money. Social Security recipients and railroad retirees who are otherwise not required to file a tax return also do not need to do anything to receive their money. If you otherwise have not filed taxes recently, you may need to submit a simple tax return to get your check. (More on who’s eligible here.)

  • Do not give anyone your personal information to “sign-up” for your relief check. There is nothing to sign up for. Anyone calling to ask for your personal information, like your Social Security number, PayPal account, or bank information is a scammer, plain and simple. Also be on the lookout for email phishing scams, where scammers pretend to be from the government and ask for your information as part of the “sign-up” process for the checks.

  • To set up direct deposit of your check, communicate only with the IRS at irs.gov/coronavirus. And you only need to do this if you didn’t give the IRS your bank information on your 2018 or 2019 return. In the coming weeks, the IRS will be setting up an online form available through irs.gov/coronavirus, and never in response to an email, text, or call.

  • No one has early access to this money. Anyone that claims to is a scammer. The timeline for this process is not exact, but it looks like funds will start going out in the next few weeks. Scammers are using the lack of detail to try to trick people into giving their personal information and money.

For more information visit ftc.gov/coronavirus.