Abbott Warns East Texans to Avoid Alleged Tax Refund Scam

AUSTIN – Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott Monday revealed that the state is investigating an alleged fraudulent tax return scheme and warned East Texas residents to avoid recruiters from Syam Tax Services LLC. According to a news release, the Texas Attorney General’s Office does not typically acknowledge investigations but disclosed the investigation into Syam Tax Services in order to help prevent additional victims from being harmed by the tax fraud scheme.

Although the State’s investigation is still ongoing, Abbott says the preliminary results show that Syam Tax Services enlisted recruiters to canvass small East Texas churches and senior residences for elderly victims who receive Social Security or disability benefits. Officials say prospective victims are told that low-income Social Security recipients are eligible for a cash benefit under a federal stimulus funds program. Next, officials say, victims are told to complete a form – which includes providing their driver’s license, Social Security, and bank account numbers to Syam’s recruiters in order to receive their federal stimulus benefits. Without the victim’s knowledge, according to Abbott, Syam subsequently prepares and files a fraudulent tax return in the victim’s name.

In reality, says Abbott, there is not a federal stimulus benefit payment for low-income Social Security recipients. But the tax return prepared by Syam and submitted to the IRS not only requests the payment, but also directs the IRS to deposit more than half of the resulting tax refund into Syam’s own bank account, according to the news release.

When the IRS realizes that the tax return is fraudulent, the agency contacts the victim and demands that the taxpayer repay the entire tax refund, plus penalties and interest. According to Abbott, since Syam never informed victims that it would file a tax return or retain a portion of the refund, victims first learn they are liable for the full amount of the fraudulent tax refund when they receive the letter from the IRS. You can go to https://www.oag.state.tx.us/ to read more about this topic.