DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — The IRS is sending letters to hundreds of thousands of taxpayers asking for bank account information to process refunds.
However, so are scammers impersonating the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
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It is so hard to tell the real and fake versions apart that even tax attorneys and accountants are having trouble determining which are legitimate and which are coming from a scammer.
“What I’ve been telling clients is, you don’t even need to try to figure out if it’s real or fake,” said Jess LeDonne, a tax attorney with the Bonadio group.
Ledonne says you can go to IRS.gov yourself to check your account and, if necessary, add any banking information there.
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Renee Klein called her tax accountant when she received a letter from the IRS asking her to scan a QR code to update her banking information for direct deposit of her 2025 refund.
“I wasn’t getting a refund, so they didn’t need my bank account. That was the only reason that I actually stopped and said this doesn’t seem legit,” Klein said.
Klein’s husband is Channel 2 Sports Director Zach Klein. He brought the letter to the attention of Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray to warn others.
The letter the Kleins received contained a QR code. And real or fake, LeDonne suggests never scanning the code.
“It’s never worth scanning them because it is the prime way that a scammer is going to try to kind of access your information, especially on a notice like this, where really the information the agency is trying to get is your banking information. I mean, it is truly a goldmine for scammers,” LeDonne said.
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Some taxpayers are getting legitimate letters from the IRS asking for direct deposit account information because of a 2025 Executive order phasing out paper checks.
Channel 2 Action News reached out to the IRS. A spokesperson said this particular form, “The CP53E does not include a QR code,” and recommended anyone who received a letter go to the agency website, where “any notice or letter from the IRS will be available on your IRS account.”
Renee Klein’s tax attorney told her to ignore the letter.
“It looked so real, and if I didn’t know better, I probably would have scanned the QR code and sent them my information,” Klein said.
And Jess LeDonne says you can just do nothing if you receive the letter, even if it is legitimate.
In that case, the IRS will issue you a paper check for your refund in about six weeks.