Announcer:
It is time now on KROS for Financial Focus, brought to you by NelsonCorp Wealth Management. The opinions voiced in this show are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. Any indices mentioned are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. Registered representative securities offered through Cambridge Investment Research Incorporated, a broker dealer, member FINRA, SIPC, investment advisor representative, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Incorporated, a registered investment advisor, Cambridge and NelsonCorp Wealth Management are not affiliated. Cambridge does not offer tax advice. Now, here’s today’s Financial Focus program.
Nate Kreinbrink:
Good morning and welcome to this week’s Financial Focus brought to you each and every Wednesday morning right here on KROS. What it is, the 3rd Wednesday. We have Andy Ferguson with NelsonCorp Tax Solutions. Joining me today… First off, happy Juneteenth to everyone. Hopefully everyone is able to attend one of the events in the area today and celebrate it and enjoy it. So it is summertime, and it may be again the middle of June, but it is records. We have not had extended mid-90s or above temperatures consecutively in June ever before.
Andy Fergurson:
To feels hot.
Nate Kreinbrink:
It is hot. I don’t know. Is this a sign of like, Hey, let’s get it out of the way early and we’re going to have a mild summer, or is this like, Hey, be ready because it’s going to be-
Andy Fergurson:
I don know if you remember or not, but we had all of our winter in two days.
Nate Kreinbrink:
We did.
Andy Fergurson:
So we’re probably going to have all of our summer in a week.
Nate Kreinbrink:
Four weeks, yes.
Andy Fergurson:
Yeah. And so then summer will be over and it’ll be back to living in San Diego again.
Nate Kreinbrink:
I like how you put a practicality into all that because that does make sense. And I do remember that the couple days right after the first of the year and it was bad, and then we had a mild winter.
Andy Fergurson:
Yeah, I could do that.
Nate Kreinbrink:
We could live with that.
Andy Fergurson:
I think the people that are at the pools and stuff like the warm weather. I think they just as soon have it warm every day. But yeah, it’s too hot to walk from your car to the building.
Nate Kreinbrink:
It is. And again, I do a little bit of coaching with my youngest baseball team, obviously baseball, softball, summer activities, everything that’s outside, it is hot just sitting at a game. It is hot.
Andy Fergurson:
When the wind blows in your face and you’re in the shade because it feels like somebody’s got a hair dryer on you. It’s hot.
Nate Kreinbrink:
Oh, we will stop complaining. I love it. I would rather have this than snow any day. So call me crazy. But I like summer. But anyways, 3rd Wednesday, we are going to talk taxes today, and I know Andy and I, we always have a lot of topics to go through and I joke with him that he gives me a year worth of topics every Wednesday when he jots them down. But he had one today that I think is very prevalent. And again, that could impact anybody. And you hear it more and more obviously in today’s world with technology and all that that is going on. Scams is a big part of what we do. And again, having people be educated and be aware that these are going on, they’re getting more creative, they are getting more realistic in some ways as far as what they’re looking like, what they’re asking for, how they’re presenting it. So again, it’s important that people are aware of it and know that they’re out there.
Andy Fergurson:
Yeah, the IRS issued another warning last week, and so we want to just do our part as our kind of public service announcement and maybe draw some attention to it again and let everybody know what’s happening there. But the IRS has asked everybody who’s involved to try and help people understand what’s going on. And so we’ll talk a little bit about how it works. The commissioner of the IRS sent a message out that said that the scams are coming through phone calls, they’re coming through emails, they’re coming from text messages. The scammers are out there. There’re pretending to be not just the IRS now, but they’re pretending to be the Social Security Service or the Social Security Administration. They’re pretending to be maybe the driver’s license bureau, the state agencies. Any government agency you can think of, they’re pretending to be that agency. And the goal is for them to get you to give them some sensitive information.
If they can get you to give them that sensitive information, then they’ve accomplished their goals. So it’s important that you understand what the threats are, make sure those people that you love, understand what the threats are, understand what the signs are with these scams. So we’ll tell you kind of about what some of the scams look like so that you can understand the threats and pass that on… Know for yourself and pass it on to those that you care about. First of all, like I said, they’re going to be impersonating agencies, right? And they’ll do that different ways. Like I said, IRS, Social Security, Medicare, they may call and say that they’re from Medicare. They have a really uncanny ability now to imitate or to look like they are credible. They’ll spoof their numbers so that their caller ID says Medicare or it says the IRS, so that anybody who relies on that technology could be tricked pretty easy.
Their email address may say the Internal Revenue Service, their text message may say that they are an agent or something like that. So they’ll look real. And then what they’ll do is they’ll claim that you either owe them money or that you are entitled to money and attempt to get you to give them information. And what they’ll do is they say, “You either owe money or you’re entitled to money. What we need you to do is verify some information.” And then they’ll ask you to verify your name and social security number or your banking information or something like that.
If they’re scamming you and they’re thinking that you… Or they’re acting like you owe money, they will press you for immediate action. And even if they’re saying that you have money coming to you, they’ll press you for immediate action. Because again, the scammers are trying to get this all done in one phone call. So they will press and say, “You have to do this right now, or you’re going to lose it. Or you’re going to get in trouble. Or you have to do it now, or something that you don’t want to happen is going to happen.”
Nate Kreinbrink:
Well, and I think too, you start looking at that and you mentioned they’re going to call you, they’re going to email you, they’re going to text you, they’re going to do all that. As a general rule of thumb, if there’s anything that is legitimately from the IRS or the Social Security Office or Medicare, as a general rule of thumb, they are going to send you a physical letter that is going to come through the mail saying, “Hey, this is what we got. If you want to follow up on this, please give us a call.”
Very rarely, if any, is the IRS just out of the blue going to call you saying, “Hey, we need you to do this and we need you to do this within 24 hours.” A lot of times with that letter is they’re going to state what it is. They’re going to say, “Hey, if you appeal this, you have X amount of days, 60 days, 90 days, whatever it is to file, appeal, or to try to get this taken care of.” And again, that pressure, that urgency is what the scammers are trying to feed on. They’re trying to feel like, oh, my gosh, I got to do this, otherwise I’m going to be taken to jail and locked up for 10 years. That’s not going to be the case.
Andy Fergurson:
Yeah. It’s the classic pressure sale tactic, right? And remember, the IRS is behind most technology, right? They still want you to fax things and mail things. So along those lines, they’re also not going to let you… The IRS and Social Security and Medicare is not going to let you pay for things with cryptocurrency. They’re not going to let you pay with a gift card to Applebee’s or to… I don’t know, PayPal or Apple or Amazon. So they’re not going to take the wire transfer. So the payment apps, the wire transfers, the gift cards, cryptocurrency, those are all things that… Those are red lights or red flags that are indicators that it’s not who you think it is. In this release by the IRS, one of the things that they said, there’s a couple of nevers that they quoted here.
They said, “The IRS will never ask for immediate payment. They will never say, you have to do it right now or else you’re going to jail. They will never say that the police are coming to your house. They will never, ever, ever say that something is happening right this second. They will never demand payment without giving you an opportunity to challenge it. They will never request information over the phone or as far as credit card or debit card information over the phone.”
So those are some nevers that you can count on from the IRS and the same probably for the Social Security and Medicare services. So those are just some things to keep an eye out for. The other thing I would tell you is encourage your friends and your family, those that you might think would be susceptible to these types of scams to reach out to you if you think… If they think something is happening, have them reach out to you and let you help them with this. Because again, if it is a legitimate organization, they’re going to have no problem with somebody helping them pay their bill. They’re not going to care that somebody is trying to help them solve the problem.
Nate Kreinbrink:
Well, and I think too, if something seems fishy, there’s a good chance that it is. I think most people have a pretty good just initial impression as far as does this seem legit or not? Again, if someone’s just randomly called you and said, “Hey, we need your bank account because we’re sending you a million dollars.” Well, that seems kind of too good to be true, and oftentimes it actually is. But again, as they go, these scammers, they’re getting more intelligent as well. They’re targeting times when these topics are in the news, when they’re going to be happening. This is when they are striking. And obviously with the text messages, the phone calls, the emails, that’s free to them. That does not cost them anything. Whereas if they want to send a letter, they’re not going to put the resources into sending out a mass mailing to do this with doing it, which is a part of the reason why some of these letters are coming.
But again, if you have questions, again, just relax, take a deep breath, say, “Hey, let me call you back.” Okay? If they don’t give you a legitimate number or anything like that, there’s a good chance then that it’s not reality. If they give you a number and it is for the social security or for an insurance company, go back and look at your records and match up and call your actual agent. Call your actual rep. Have somebody and say, “Hey, is this legit. Hey, I got this call. Is this from you?” They will verify it, okay? Don’t call the number back that they give you on the phone when someone is asking, because they’re going to just have you call them right back. So again, do a little bit checking and again, make sure that it is legit before you give any information out.
Andy Fergurson:
And we understand it’s real. I mean, I get people that come in all the time when they get a real letter from the IRS and it’s scary. They don’t know what that letter says. And a lot of times it’s much more scary to feel like the IRS is looking at you. Even when they are looking at you, it’s not as bad usually as you think it is. So the scammers are playing on that fear, so just don’t be too worried about it. Talk to somebody who can help you understand what’s going on and don’t give your information to anybody on the phone.
Nate Kreinbrink:
All great stuff. Again, if you have questions, let us know. Before we do want to run out of time here. I did want to mention that every Friday, NelsonCorp Wealth Management and NelsonCorp Tax Solutions are wearing jeans for charity. Money raised in the month of June will be donated to the Clinton Humane Society. Andy, as always, appreciate you joining me. Stay cool out there. Drink plenty of fluids. Stay in the shade.
Andy Fergurson:
Right on.
Nate Kreinbrink:
Be smart. Again, Nate and Andy, bringing you this week’s Financial Focus. Thanks for tuning in and have a great rest of your week.
Announcer:
Financial Focus is a production of NelsonCorp Wealth Management in Clinton and Davenport. The opinions voiced in the show are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. Any indices mentioned are unmanaged and cannot be invested into directly. Registered representatives, securities offered through Cambridge Investment Research Incorporated, a broker dealer, member FINRA, SIPC. Investment advisor representative, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Incorporated, a registered investment advisor, Cambridge and NelsonCorp Wealth Management are not affiliated. Cambridge does not offer tax advice. For more information, visit our website at www.nelsoncorp.com.