Stimulus Scam Alert; Where's My Rebate
VELSHI: Well, as stimulus payments arrive in bank accounts and mail boxes across the country, the IRS is alerting consumers to be on the lookout for scam artists. CNN's Kelli Arena has this story.</s>KELLI ARENA, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Edna Lawrence may be 69 years old, but she's no pushover.</s>EDNA LAWRENCE, SCAM RECIPIENT: Once he asked me for my checking account number, I knew that my Social Number would be the next thing he'd ask for. But he wasn't about to get either one.</s>ARENA: She says she got about eight calls from a man claiming that he was from the IRS and had a rebate check for her. He wanted her bank information so he could direct deposit the check.</s>LAWRENCE: He just said that we were owed $400 and we were to receive it back. And that's the only way we could get it.</s>ARENA: Lawrence called the Texas attorney general to complain. The office got so many complaints that it put out a consumer alert. The AG is worried that hard economic times will lead people to act before they think.</s>GREG ABBOTT, TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL: Here is my concern, and that is people may think, gosh, this may or may not be true, but what can it hurt for me to go ahead and give out my bank account number?</s>ARENA: The FBI has also put out a consumer alert. This one about an e-mail scam. The goal is the same, to try to get you to provide your personal information. And timing is everything. The IRS has just started mailing rebate checks. As many as 130 million households across the country should get one as part of a stimulus package. Kevin Kolbye is with the</s>FBI. KEVIN KOLBYE, FBI: I think if they can call 200 people in one day and they can get five to 10 individuals that will provide them with their personal identification numbers and Social Securities and dates of birth and banking information, that they've had a successful day.</s>ARENA: The only thing you needed to do to get your rebate check was file a tax form. And what's more, officials say, that they won't be soliciting personal information over the phone or through e-mail ever. Kelli Arena, CNN, Austin, Texas.</s>WILLIS: All right. So if you haven't gotten your stimulus rebate yet, you might be wondering exactly where it is. I spoke with Tobie Stanger, a senior editor at "Consumer Reports," to learn why you might not have that money yet.</s>WILLIS: All right, Tobie, well, I think a lot of people out there, they just haven't gotten their rebate check and they don't know what to make of it. You say there are many situations where you won't have it yet, and legitimately so. In fact, if you've filed electronically and arranged for direct deposit, you may be one of those people, right?</s>TOBIE STANGER, SENIOR EDITOR, "CONSUMER REPORTS": Yes. The IRS is saying that if you arranged for direct deposit and you filed and had your return processed before April 15th, you should get your stimulus payment around now. But there are a lot of people who are not and they're concerned as to why.</s>WILLIS: So obviously we started by talking about, if you filed electronically, you may be one of those people. What about if you split your refund into a couple of different accounts?</s>STANGER: If you split your refund into a couple of different accounts, you are not going to get your stimulus payments split into those accounts. You're going to get a paper check. There are a number of other ways that you might get a paper check even if you arrange for direct deposit of your refund.</s>WILLIS: OK. And if you did the refund in anticipation, this is just another reason not to like the refund anticipation loan, I think.</s>STANGER: That's right. The refund anticipation loan, there are a lot of people who arrange for direct deposit of their money into a debit card or something else. And the IRS is saying, we're not going to deposit your stimulus payment the same way. You're going to get the stimulus payment as a paper check. So you're going to have to wait.</s>WILLIS: All right. If the IRS didn't process your refund before April 15th?</s>STANGER: That's another reason. The IRS is saying, only the early birds are getting their direct deposit stimulus payments now. The others are going to have to wait. They'll either get it as a direct deposit or, in some cases, they may have to get it as a paper check, even if they arranged for direct deposit of their refund.</s>WILLIS: You know, Tobie, there's a lot of frustration out there. I think people -- a lot of people out there thinking, I should have gotten more money. Why aren't they?</s>STANGER: Well, the general rule is that the $600 per single person and the $1,200 per couple is a maximum. If you didn't owe the IRS that much, you're not going to get back the entire amount. If say you owed $450 as a single person, you are going to get back $450 as a stimulus payment and no more.</s>WILLIS: All right. Let's talk a little bit about -- you know, if you want to know whether or not you qualify, because the rules are byzantine. They're difficult to understand. Where do you go?</s>STANGER: You can go to irs.gov. They have a huge area on their web site to discuss all sorts of things about the stimulus payments, including a schedule so you can get an idea of when you should expect your payments. They also -- they have something called "where's my stimulus payment" that will give you more information. We haven't found it to be a great interactive, but you could go there.</s>WILLIS: Tobie, thank you for that.</s>STANGER: Thank you.</s>WILLIS: Still waiting, I guess. Well, the results of today's Quick Vote coming up next. You're watching ISSUE NUMBER ONE.