Email fraud

[RichSchultz]

I emailed a client at their gmail address to ask them to provide their direct deposit information for a tax refund. The client responded and provided bank information. Turns out, the client's email had been spoofed and I was communicating with someone other than the client. My actual client was receiving my emails but it seems the emails were also being intercepted by another person. My client called me to give me his bank information at which point I said that he had already emailed it to me. That's when we discovered that someone was intercepting and answering his emails. 

The return was e-filed with the fraudulent direct deposit information.

I called the bank to report that one of their account holders was tampering with a federal tax refund. They said they would flag the account.

At this time, the IRS live assistance is suspended so I can't talk to anyone at the IRS to report it. I also can't correct the direct deposit information with the IRS.  I mailed Form 3911 (Taxpayer Statement Regarding Refund) and attached an explanation of the situation.

Will the IRS direct deposit get rejected if the name on the bank account does not match the taxpayer's name?

I ran malware detection on my equipment. I found some adware which I removed but no other malware or viruses were detected. I also changed my system and email passwords. The client ran malware detection on his equipment and found nothing.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Thank you.

[Just-Lisa-Now- · Accepted solution]

"Will the IRS direct deposit get rejected if the name on the bank account does not match the taxpayer's name?"

Its supposed to, but not all banks seem to do this.  Can you tell what bank it is by the routing number?  I would contact them and ask what your options are in this situation and file a police report for identity theft.

[RichSchultz]

Yes, I have called the bank to tell them that one of their account holders may be participating in a fraud. Oddly enough, the bank actually told me the account holder's first name. I did not share any information about my client. The bank said they would flag the account and investigate. The bank is a small six-branch credit union in Colorado.