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.
