If you receive a text message claiming to be from the IRS, there’s one word you should know before you respond:

Smishing.

It sounds almost harmless. It isn’t.

Smishing is essentially phishing conducted through SMS or text messages, and it’s one of many ways criminals attempt to gain access to your personal and financial information.

For families who have spent decades building wealth, protecting that wealth involves more than managing investments, taxes, and insurance. It also means protecting the information and access points surrounding your financial life.

What Is Smishing?

For more than 20 years, the IRS has published its annual “Dirty Dozen,” highlighting scams and schemes taxpayers should be watching for.

IRS impersonation remains a recurring threat.

Most people are familiar with phishing—fraudulent emails designed to convince you to provide sensitive information or click a malicious link.

Smishing uses the same strategy through text messages. Similar scams can also arrive through social media direct messages and QR codes.

The message might tell you:

• Your IRS account has been suspended. 
• Unusual activity has been detected. 
• You owe an outstanding tax balance. 
• A tax refund is waiting for you. 
• You need to “verify” your identity immediately. 

The link may even take you to a website designed to look remarkably similar to a legitimate government website.

From there, you could be asked for a Social Security number, bank account information, passwords, credit card information, or other credentials.

The Real Weapon Is Urgency

The technology may be sophisticated, but the psychology behind these scams is surprisingly simple.

The criminal wants you to act before you think.

They create fear: “Your account has been locked.”

They create urgency: “You must respond immediately.”

Or they create excitement: “You have a refund waiting.”

That's why one of the most useful rules for protecting your financial life is:

Don't let urgency override verification.

The IRS generally initiates contact with taxpayers through regular mail. An unexpected text, email, social media message, or QR code requesting sensitive information should immediately raise suspicion.

Don't Verify Through the Message

If you receive a suspicious communication, don't:

• Click the link. 
• Scan the QR code. 
• Open an attachment. 
• Call the number provided. 
• Reply to the message. 
• Provide personal or financial information. 

Instead, independently verify the communication.

That distinction matters.

If a message claims to be from your bank, don't call the number in the message. Contact the bank using a trusted number you already have or navigate independently to its official website.

The same principle applies to the IRS, Social Security, Medicare, your investment custodian, credit card companies, and other financial institutions.

Affluent Families Can Have More Points of Vulnerability

As your financial life becomes more complex, protecting it becomes increasingly important.

You may have multiple investment accounts, trusts, business interests, credit relationships, real estate holdings, charitable accounts, tax professionals, attorneys, and other financial relationships.

That creates more places where a sophisticated impersonation attempt can appear legitimate.

Fraud prevention, therefore, shouldn't be treated separately from wealth management.

It's part of risk management.

Just as you periodically review investment risk, insurance coverage, estate documents, and tax exposure, it's worth reviewing how your family protects financial information and verifies unusual requests.

That can be particularly important when multiple generations are involved in the family's financial affairs.

Create a Family Verification Habit

One of the simplest defenses is also one of the most effective:

Slow down.

Before moving money, sharing information, changing account credentials, or responding to an unexpected request, verify it through a second trusted channel.

And make sure your spouse, children, parents, or anyone else involved in your family's financial life understands the same rule.

A sophisticated financial plan can be undone remarkably quickly if someone is convinced to voluntarily hand a criminal the keys.

Final Thought

Protecting wealth isn't only about generating returns or minimizing taxes.

It's also about protecting what you've already built.

If something involving your investments, taxes, Social Security, Medicare, or another financial matter doesn't feel right, don't feel pressured to respond immediately.

Verify first.

And remember that you have a financial team you can call before taking action.

Sometimes one of the most valuable financial decisions you can make is simply not clicking the link.