If you received a text claiming the California Franchise Tax Board (FTB) has an unclaimed refund waiting for you, do not tap its link or reply. FTB has warned about texts impersonating the agency and directing people to fake pages that seek personal or financial information. The wording alone cannot confirm whether a particular message is genuine: verify through the FTB’s official website or contact details you find independently.
How the California tax refund scam works
The message may say a refund has been approved, processed, or is waiting to be claimed. It then pushes you to a link, often to a page that resembles an official government site and asks for identity, banking, or payment-card details. The FTB reported this impersonation pattern in March 2025, and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) described a similar refund-themed phishing approach in January 2026.
A text that mentions a refund is not proof that you are owed one, and suspicious wording is not enough to authenticate or disprove a specific message. Treat an unexpected request as a reason to check independently. The FTB says it does not text people asking for personal or financial information; phishing messages may seek usernames, passwords, payment details, bank information, PINs, or Social Security numbers. FTB’s March 2025 alert and FTB Tax News from April 2025 describe the agency’s warnings.
How to check whether a refund message is real
- Do not use the message to verify itself. Don’t reply, tap its link, or open an attachment if you are unsure. A link in an unsolicited message is not a safe refund-status tool.
- Go to the agency independently. Type the official FTB or IRS web address into your browser, or use USA.gov’s refund information. Check your status through the official service rather than a page reached from the message.
- Contact the agency using independently obtained details. If you have a question about a suspicious FTB letter, the FTB’s August 2025 release lists 800-852-5711; it lists 800-829-1040 for the IRS. Confirm current contact information on the agencies’ websites before calling, since contact instructions can change.
California State Controller and FTB Chair Malia M. Cohen advised people who doubt a message claiming to be from a government agency to contact the agency directly to verify whether action is needed. The FTC likewise says a refund link that asks you to verify your identity and receive payment is not how you find out about a real refund. See the FTB’s August 2025 guidance and the FTC’s January 2026 alert.
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Warning signs to take seriously
Unexpected messages deserve caution if they rush or threaten you, promise a refund or tax benefit, pressure you for personal or financial information, or demand immediate payment. The IRS identifies these as warning signs, and the California Attorney General warns that tax phishing emails may claim that you owe money or are due a refund.
These signs are prompts to verify through an official channel, not a reliable test for deciding whether a particular message is authentic. The IRS tax-scam guidance and California Attorney General’s tax guidance explain common tactics. A separate risk is a tax scheme encouraging people to inflate withholding to claim a larger refund; the IRS discusses that practice in its 2026 Dirty Dozen warning. That is not the same as an impersonation text pretending to be from the FTB.
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How to report the message
- Use your phone’s report-junk or report-spam option, if available.
- Forward unwanted texts to 7726 (SPAM).
- Report the fraud to the FTC at ReportFraud.ftc.gov.
- For a message claiming to be from the IRS, follow the current reporting instructions on the IRS tax-scam page.
The FTC provides these reporting steps in its January 2026 refund-scam alert.
What to do if you already shared information
Choose a response based on what you disclosed; there is no single remedy for every case. Use IdentityTheft.gov’s recovery steps for guidance. If you shared a Social Security number, bank or card details, or account credentials—or if you downloaded a file—the next steps can differ. If you think your tax return or IRS account may be affected, consult the IRS’s current tax-scam guidance and contact the FTB through its official website for California-specific concerns. Do not return to the link in the message to seek help.
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California’s figures describe fraud prevention and improper refunds stopped by the state; they are not estimates of consumer losses from this particular text scam. The Governor’s February 25, 2026 announcement says the FTB prevented more than $6 billion in tax fraud over eight years and protected $579 million in state revenue by stopping improper refunds in fiscal year 2024/2025. The FTB’s 2025 taxpayer-rights executive summary describes the latter amount as nearly $600 million in improper refunds blocked, a rounded formulation of the same fiscal-year figure—not a measure of money lost by Californians to scam texts.
Sources: Governor of California, February 25, 2026; FTB 2025 Taxpayer Bill of Rights executive summary.
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