SPOKANE, Wash. — Tax season has arrived, bringing with it a familiar warning from fraud experts: scammers are becoming more sophisticated, and artificial intelligence is making their schemes harder to detect.
The Internal Revenue Service recently released its annual “Dirty Dozen” list of the most common tax scams for 2026. This year’s list includes a new category of concern: viral “tax hacks” spreading across social media platforms that could land unsuspecting taxpayers in legal trouble.
Aaron Robel, a fraud and security expert with WSECU, warns that Americans increasingly turning to technology for free tax advice may be putting themselves at risk.
“Are you really going to trust ChatGPT to do your taxes?” Robel asked.
The concern extends beyond just unreliable advice. Last year alone, the IRS reported more than 600 social media impersonators attempting to defraud taxpayers through fake accounts and misleading information.
AI becomes double-edged sword
While some taxpayers are experimenting with AI tools for tax preparation, criminals are also embracing the technology to enhance their scams. Robel explains that artificial intelligence and deepfake technology are making fraudulent schemes increasingly difficult to identify and trace.
“With the deepfakes, with AI I mean how many times now do you see a commercial and you can actually pinpoint that’s AI,” Robel said.
The sophistication of these AI-powered scams presents a significant challenge for law enforcement and cybersecurity experts.
“You have to be on the dark web in the forums talking to them, so you need to learn from what they’re doing, their tools, techniques, practices all of that,” Robel explained.
Recognizing common patterns
Despite the technological advances, Robel says tax scams still follow predictable patterns. Common schemes include offers for free tax preparation services and surprise phone calls with urgent requests for personal information.
His advice for avoiding these traps is straightforward: “I don’t answer calls that aren’t a part of my contact list, I straight up don’t answer them.”
When taxpayers do encounter suspicious communications, Robel recommends pausing to verify the legitimacy of the request before taking any action.
“Well then I can pivot to use AI myself to learn more about what just happened and maybe through that I’m using AI now to build my knowledge of what I can do,” he said.
Building personal defenses
The key to protection, according to Robel, lies in understanding what scammers are ultimately seeking and developing personal systems to recognize threats.
“If you build and train that system for yourself it doesn’t matter what AI brings, it doesn’t matter what season it is, because you you won’t have that same fear of all of these things happening hopefully, because you’ve built some training for yourself on how to manage it,” Robel said.
As tax season continues, experts emphasize the importance of using only legitimate tax preparation services and being skeptical of unsolicited communications claiming to be from the IRS or other tax authorities.
The IRS reminds taxpayers that the agency typically initiates contact through official mail, not phone calls or text messages, and never demands immediate payment through gift cards or wire transfers.
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