Fake Stimulus Checks, Beware- For quite some time in 2021, a fourth round of stimulus checks issued by the federal government was a popular idea among American voters – and also among many progressive Democratic legislators.
New York Democrat Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called for the extension of federal unemployment benefits through February 2022, opting instead for a universal basic income-style system instead of a single check.
In March 2021, Senators Ed Markey, Elizabeth Warren, and almost two dozen other senators urged the Biden administration to send recurring COVID-19 stimulus checks to tens of millions of Americans throughout the remainder of the pandemic. The bill was never passed, but not for lack of interest from voters.
At the time, online search interest in a fourth round of stimulus checks increased steadily, with Google Trends data at the time showing that West Virginia had the highest number of searches of any state, followed by Mississippi, Arkansas, Kentucky, and Oklahoma.
And while Google search trend data shows that people are searching for information about a fourth stimulus less – owing to the fact that the White House has effectively ruled it out – many states have passed new bills that will redirect budget surplus funds to residents in stimulus-check style aid.
With that in mind, the Internal Revenue Service is warning Americans not to get caught up in stimulus check scams.
“Dirty Dozen Week” Warnings on Stimulus Checks
As part of…