New research from online protection company McAfee shows that while 82% of Americans say they’re concerned about tax fraud or identity theft this filing season, many don’t feel fully prepared to spot today’s increasingly convincing scams.
Nearly one in four Americans (23%) admit they have fallen victim to a tax scam, according to McAfee. Four in 10 Americans say tax scam messages are more sophisticated than last year, and 84% are worried that artificial intelligence is making scams harder to detect. Yet only 29% feel very confident they could recognize a tax scam when they see one.
A McAfee survey, which focused on the topic of tax scams and the impact of these scams on consumers, was conducted online in January 2026. More than 3,000 adults in the U.S. age 18 and older participated in the study.
While tax season is already a stressful time for many Americans, increasingly realistic scam messages, AI-generated impersonations, and official-looking texts and emails ramp up that stress.
Tax scams don’t just appear in April—they build months in advance, McAfee says. While email and text scams persist year-round, McAfee Labs saw fake tax-themed websites nearly double in late 2025, and they continued to rise is early 2026 as tax season approached.
Nearly one in five Americans say they’ve lost money to a tax scam, with victims losing an average of $1,020—and sometimes far more.
Confusion around recent tax law changes is adding fuel to the fire. More than one in three (38%) say legislation like the One Big Beautiful Bill Act has made them less confident they’re filing correctly, and 29% admit they don’t fully understand new tax rules. Meanwhile, two-thirds (67%) say they’re seeing the same or more tax scam messages than last year.
Tax scams are usually a small slice of overall scam activity—but when they appear, they scale fast, McAfee says. McAfee Labs found that tax-themed email and text scams typically make up about 1% or less of scam activity, but targeted campaigns can drive sudden spikes. In late 2025, a tax-relief email campaign pushed scam emails as high as 6%, while politically themed tax texts briefly drove scam messages to 7% in a single day.
The result is a tax season marked by anxiety, shaky confidence, and an opening for scammers to exploit urgency and confusion, McAfee says.
“Tax season has long been prime time for scammers because it combines high stress with people sharing sensitive personal information,” Abhishek Karnik, head of threat research at McAfee, said in a statement. “What’s changed is how real these scams now feel and how uncertain many people feel about spotting them. AI allows criminals to more easily clone voices, mimic IRS communications, and create emails and texts that look completely legitimate. When only a small share of Americans are fully confident they can spot a deepfake, that uncertainty gives scammers an edge. The safest move is to pause, verify, go directly to the official source, and use protection built for today’s threats, because one quick click can turn into a costly mistake.”
AI is raising the stakes and exposing a confidence gap
AI is changing the scam game by making fake messages feel all too real. Nearly three in four Americans (77%) worry that AI is making tax scams more convincing, and only 29% feel very confident they could spot a deepfake IRS voice or video pretending to be from the IRS.
There’s also a sharp generational divide in who feels prepared for scam-spotting. While 42% of young adults ages 18-24 say they’d feel very confident spotting a deepfake tax scam, that drops to just 15% among adults 65-74, leaving many older Americans feeling especially exposed.
But confidence doesn’t always reflect exposure. Nearly one in four adults under 45 (23%) report experiencing tax-related identity theft, compared with just 4% to 5% of adults ages 55 and older. At the same time, roughly 80% of adults under 35 say they feel confident they could detect a fake tax message, versus 66% of adults 65-74.
How Americans are trying to stay safe
Faced with increasingly realistic scam tactics, nine in 10 Americans (90%) say they’re taking steps to protect themselves this tax season:
- 67% never click links from unknown senders.
- 60% ignore unexpected texts or calls.
- 53% use strong passwords.
- 53% enable two-factor authentication.
- 31% use anti-malware or antivirus software.
Younger adults report the lowest use of protective behaviors, while older adults report the highest:
- 56% of 18- to 24-year-olds vs. 81% of adults 65+ avoid unknown links.
- 45% of 18- to 24-year-olds vs. 77% of adults 65+ ignore unknown texts or calls.
- 40% of 18- to 24-year-olds vs. 58% of adults 65+ use two-factor authentication.
- 17% of 18- to 24-year-olds vs. 50% of adults 65+ use anti-malware protection.
At the same time, caution is tipping into confusion: 37% say they’ve second-guessed a legitimate tax communication because they feared it was a scam.
“This tax season isn’t just about filing returns; it’s about navigating doubt,” McAfee said.
How to stay safer this tax season
McAfee provided the following tips on how to protect yourself this tax season:
- Strengthen your defenses: Turn on two-factor authentication, use strong and unique passwords, and never share login details. AI-powered scam detection tools can help flag suspicious messages before they cause harm.
- Verify through official channels: The IRS does not demand immediate payment by text, email, or social media. If you receive a suspicious message, go directly to IRS.gov or call the official number listed there.
- Pause before you click: Urgency is a scammer’s favorite tactic. Skip the link and navigate directly to the official website to confirm.
Methodology
A McAfee survey, which focused on the topic of tax scams and the impact of these scams on consumers, was conducted online in January 2026, and 3,008 adults in the U.S., age 18+, participated in the study.
McAfee Labs analyzed U.S. tax‑related scams observed across multiple threat vectors ahead of the April 15, 2026, tax filing deadline. The research examined scam activity detected between Sept. 1, 2025, and early February 2026, drawing on anonymized product telemetry and threat intelligence. Analysis focused on tax‑themed malicious or suspicious websites, text messages, emails, mobile apps, and PDF files, using IRS‑ and tax‑related keywords to identify relevant activity. Suspicious URLs and samples were further reviewed and categorized by risk to better understand scam trends targeting consumers during tax season.
Photo credit: Dilok Klaisataporn/iStock
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