It is not always as obvious as buying groceries with the company card. It shows up in smaller ways too, like covering a business expense with personal cash and never recording a reimbursement, or using one credit card for everything and sorting it out later at tax time. None of these feel significant on their own. The damage builds from volume.

The IRS identified more than 640,000 fraudulent returns attempting to claim $3.1 billion in refunds in a single year. That's the scale scammers operate at, and it's exactly why they lean on fear and urgency to catch people off guard. Read to learn what to expect.