IRS Warns of Child Tax Credit Scams

A client calls you panicked: someone left a voicemail saying her Child Tax Credit payments are on hold and she needs to verify her bank account immediately. That call was not from the IRS. It was a scammer, and that tactic is exactly what the IRS Criminal Investigation Division has been warning about.

If you prepare returns or advise families with children, understanding these scams in detail helps you protect both your clients and your own practice.

What These Scams Actually Look Like

The pattern is consistent. A scammer contacts a taxpayer by text, email, phone, or social media — posing as the IRS — and claims there is a problem with their Child Tax Credit enrollment or payment. The message creates urgency. It asks for a Social Security number, bank routing details, or a payment to “release” funds.

Here is what you need to know cold:

• The IRS never initiates contact by email, text, or social media to request personal or financial information about the Child Tax Credit.
• The IRS does not use robocalls and will not call with threats involving arrest warrants or urgent collection demands.
• The IRS will never ask for payment via gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency to deliver Child Tax Credit funds or any other benefit.
• The IRS does not ask taxpayers to verify financial information by phone to receive monthly payments.

Scammers often direct victims to fake websites that look official enough to fool someone not paying close attention. Those sites capture Social Security numbers and bank account details. If a client receives an unsolicited message claiming to be from the IRS about the Child Tax Credit, the right move is simple: do not respond, do not click any link.

Who Actually Qualifies — and Why No Action Is Needed

One reason these scams work is confusion about how the advance payments actually get distributed. Here is the short version your clients need to hear:

If a taxpayer filed a 2019 or 2020 return claiming the Child Tax Credit, the IRS auto-enrolls them. No form to submit, no portal to sign up through, no third-party service to contact. Enrollment is automatic.

The eligibility checklist in plain terms:

• Filed a 2019 or 2020 return that included the Child Tax Credit, OR provided information to the IRS through the non-filer tool for Economic Impact Payments
• Primary residence in the US for more than half the year
• Qualifying child under age 18 with a valid Social Security number
• Income within IRS limits

Any call, text, or email offering to “help” a taxpayer sign up, speed up payments, or verify eligibility is a scam. The IRS does not outsource that enrollment process.

The Red Flags Worth Memorizing

For CPAs advising clients, these specific triggers should prompt immediate skepticism:

Urgency language — phrases like “your payment is on hold” or “act within 24 hours” are pressure tactics, not IRS procedure.

Requests for unusual payment methods — gift cards, wire transfers, Venmo, or cryptocurrency. The IRS accepts payment through established channels only.

Suspicious links — even if the domain looks plausible, the IRS communicates official actions by mail first. A text with a link is not how the IRS operates.

Caller ID that shows “IRS” — caller ID can be spoofed. A number displaying “Internal Revenue Service” proves nothing.

Offers from a third party to expedite payments — there is no such service, official or otherwise. Anyone claiming they can speed up a Child Tax Credit payment for a fee is a fraudster.

IRS

Steps to Take If a Client Has Been Targeted

If someone in your client base received a suspicious message or — worse — responded to one, here is the sequence:

1. Do not provide any more information. Engagement does not obligate further disclosure.
2. Report the scam to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to the IRS directly at 800-829-4933.
3. If personal information was shared, place a fraud alert with the three major credit bureaus immediately and consider an identity freeze.
4. Check IRS.gov directly — only through a manually typed URL, not a link from any message — to review the actual status of Child Tax Credit payments.
5. Document the contact — save screenshots of texts or emails; note the time, number, and content of any calls. This helps investigators.

For accounting firms, this is also a good moment to remind clients: the IRS will mail correspondence before taking any action on a tax account. A letter in the mailbox, sent to the address on file, is the baseline for legitimate IRS outreach.

How Sagenext Helps

Firms that host their tax software — Drake, Lacerte, ProSeries, UltraTax, or others — on managed cloud infrastructure have one layer of risk already addressed. When client data lives in a properly secured hosted environment rather than a local workstation, a scammer who tricks an employee into clicking a bad link on a personal device does not automatically get access to the tax files.

Sagenext provides fully managed cloud hosting for tax and accounting applications, handling backups, security updates, and multi-user access through remote desktop sessions. For a practice fielding calls from clients during a stressful filing period, that infrastructure removes one more variable from the risk equation.

If your current setup has you maintaining local installs and worrying about endpoint security on top of everything else, a is worth a look — no credit card required.

Protecting Your Practice, Not Just Your Clients

Scammers targeting Child Tax Credit recipients occasionally pivot to targeting tax professionals as well. A phishing email that appears to come from a client asking you to “confirm their bank details” for a refund deposit is the same playbook applied differently.

The IRS e-Services platform and tax software portals require multi-factor authentication for a reason. Keep credentials unique to each system, train any staff who handle client communications to verify requests through a known phone number — not one supplied in the suspicious message — and treat any unexpected payment request as fraud until proven otherwise.

IRS Cp53e Notice Scam Verification Guide

Frequently Asked Questions

Will the IRS ever call me about my Child Tax Credit payment?

The IRS does not initiate calls to request personal or financial information related to the Child Tax Credit. It also does not use robocalls or make threatening calls about arrest warrants. If you receive a call claiming to be the IRS asking you to verify bank details or confirm your SSN to receive a payment, it is a scam. Hang up and report it to the IRS at 800-829-4933.

Do I need to sign up anywhere to receive advance Child Tax Credit payments?

No. If you filed a 2019 or 2020 tax return that claimed the Child Tax Credit, the IRS enrolls you automatically. You do not need to contact any agency, click any link, or use any third-party service. Any unsolicited offer to enroll you or speed up your payment is fraudulent.

How do scammers steal information through fake IRS websites?

Scammers create websites that closely mimic official IRS pages. A victim receives a text or email with a link, lands on the fake site, and enters their Social Security number, date of birth, or bank account details thinking they are dealing with the IRS. That information goes directly to the criminal. Never access IRS resources through a link in an unsolicited message — type IRS.gov manually.

What payment methods should I never use if someone claiming to be the IRS asks?

Gift cards, wire transfers, and cryptocurrency are not legitimate IRS payment methods for Child Tax Credit purposes. The IRS will never ask for payment through those channels. If someone demands you buy gift cards to receive your Child Tax Credit or avoid a penalty, that person is a scammer.

Where do I report a Child Tax Credit scam?

Report it to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and to the IRS directly at 800-829-4933. If you shared personal or financial information, contact your bank immediately and place fraud alerts with the credit bureaus. Keeping documentation of the scam attempt helps investigators build cases against repeat offenders.

Key Takeaways

• The IRS never contacts taxpayers by email, text, or social media to request Child Tax Credit information — any such message is a scam.
• Legitimate advance Child Tax Credit payments require zero action from taxpayers who already filed a 2019 or 2020 return.
• No government agency or third party can speed up your Child Tax Credit payment for a fee; that offer is always fraudulent.
• The IRS will never demand payment via gift card, wire transfer, or cryptocurrency under any circumstances.
• Report suspected scams to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov and the IRS at 800-829-4933 — do not ignore them.
• Tax professionals should apply the same skepticism to client communications as they advise clients to apply to IRS outreach.