Surge of tax refund scams detected ahead of IRS deadline: What to watch for

Related video above: Reports of scam texts are on the rise

(NEXSTAR) – Experts are warning of a surge in scam websites created to take advantage of taxpayers trying to file their returns online before the deadline.

A new report from cybersecurity company Check Point Software found a notable increase in tax-related domains that started in September 2025, with 1 in every 15 classified as malicious or suspicious.

In March, the volume of website creation jumped up, as did the level of risk, with Check Point finding 1 in every 10 new tax-related domains to be a potential threat.

“Especially now, with AI, it’s going to be easier to clone a tax provider, a government website, [or] create something that has the same look and feel, but some slight back end differences,” Check Point Senior Architect Greg Pepper told Nexstar. “Before you needed to know a little bit about the technology to maybe run some of these things, whereas now there might be tools to help you … create more sophisticated lookalikes than ever before.”

What do the phishing attacks look like?

A taxpayer who clicks on a link to one of the portals might believe it to be a legitimate government site, as some of the fake IRS portals look exactly like........

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