By now, you have to have received one of the scam emails purporting to be from the IRS with the subject line: “Notice of Underreported Income.” I’ve received 59 of them just since September 18, 2009. Persistent little spammers.
But if you’re smart or if you follow me on twitter (not that those things are mutually exclusive), you know that those emails are bad news.
The emails look like this:
The email encourages you to click on a link to view your tax statement. Don’t do it. The links are associated with a number of viruses and malware, including Zeus Trojan. If your computer becomes infected with the Zeus Trojan, your personal and financial information may be at risk, with a specific focus on online banking.
How prevalent is Zeus Trojan? A recent investigation by a prominent computer security firm found that at least 55% of the computers that it searched were infected, despite anti-virus software on the computers. The group behind Zeus, thought to be located in Europe, has become more aggressive as it targets users.
How do you protect yourself and your information? Don’t click on links or attachments in emails which purport to be from the IRS unless you requested the information. The IRS never begins investigations or contacts taxpayers with tax information unannounced via email. Never. Ever. Never.
Hit delete and don’t look back.
I just received the following email with the subject line “Confidential Information” in my inbox:
The attachment was a form which requested a long list of information including:
- Billing Address
- Social Security Number
- Mother’s Maiden Name
- Drivers License
- Social Security Number
- Phone Number
- Credit Card Number with Signature Panel Code and Expiration, plus PIN
- Bank Name
- Filing Status here.
At the bottom of the form is the warning: “Deliberate wrong inputs are criminally pursued and indicted.”
So, a couple of things…
1, The IRS will never contact you by email regarding a tax matter unless you contact them first.
2, The IRS would never ask for your credit card and other personally identifying information via email.
3, The “from” address is clearly a fake:
4, The grammar and capitalization in the email and on the form are poor, which leads me to believe that it’s along the lines of the Nigerian email and fax scams (you know, where the first language is clearly not English). Even the IRS doesn’t make that many mistakes!
So yes, it’s a scam. These folks are just trying to get you to hand over your personally identifying information. Don’t fall for it!
For more information on how to report these phishing scams to the IRS, you can go to the IRS web site here.
Be smart.
The US Tax Court has received reports about an e-mail allegedly sent by a member of the Tax Court’s practitioner bar. This is NOT a legitimate email. If you do not have a case pending before the US Tax Court, the Court will not contact you via email.
The Tax Court has advised that if you receive an e-mail with a subject line that includes the text, “Notice of Deficiency #” followed by a series of numbers or “US Tax Petition”, along with a malformed docket number following the format #000-000, and a sender address of noreply@ustaxcourt.org, complaints@ustaxcourt.org, or notice@ustaxcourt.org, delete the e-mail and do not click any link in the email.
I’ve posted before that there are NO plans in Congress to distribute monthly stimulus payments or rebates or bonuses to taxpayers.
Nonetheless, I continue to receive emails from concerned readers about ads touting such a plan (I’ve seen one myself). These ads are the product of private companies: this information is NOT from the IRS, the Department of the Treasury or any related government agency. For the most part, these ads are from private companies who are selling services, annuities and other financial products. I have received specific information that the ads have been seen on Yahoo and on eBay – there may be other sites. If you see these ads, please keep in mind that they are NOT offering a free tax rebate from the government.
It’s also important to remember that the IRS will not send you email or phone you without your first contacting them. There are a number of scams out there ‘phishing’ for information about your bank account, etc. This has ramped up during the post tax season as questions arise about rebates and refunds. Do not be fooled, no matter how legitimate the emails look or the correspondence sounds. If you ever have a question about the legitimacy of an email, you can email it to phishing@irs.gov. You can also call the IRS at 1.800.829.1040 if you have questions about your account.
Finally, do not believe anyone who tells you that they can get your rebate to you “faster” – this is not true. As slow as the IRS is moving to get those checks out, there is no private service that can speed it up. Don’t be fooled.
Be careful with your money and your personal information. Scammers, creeps and deadbeats are practically drooling this time of year. Folks are desperate and a little too trusting (I should know, many of you have offered to send me your Social Security Numbers in order to check on your rebates – please don’t! I don’t have any more information than you do and neither does anyone else. Call the IRS or check out the web site at www.irs.gov – though I know the web site has produced mixed results).
Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.
Technorati Tags:
economic stimulus, income tax, IRS, tax, tax rebate
