By George L. Yaksick, Jr., Washington Staff Writer
An email scam promising an IRS "refund" is circulating again, a spokesperson for the Service reported on January 8, 2008. As the filing season gets underway, the number of email scams, known as phishing, is likely to significantly increase as con artists seek to steal taxpayer's identities by enticing them with offers of refunds.
The latest version of the refund scam is similar to past scams. The email tells the recipient that he or she is eligible for an IRS refund. "After the last calculations of your fiscal activity, we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $129.53," the email reads.
The email asks the recipient to link to an electronic refund request form so the IRS can process the refund. Scam artists then use the personal information on the form to steal the recipient's identity or for other criminal purposes. Some email scams contain harmful viruses or spyware that can infest the recipient's computer.
Refunds do not require a separate form, the IRS spokesperson said. Anyone who thinks that he or she may be due a refund should use the IRS' online Where's My Refund? tool at www.irs.gov. The spokesperson cautioned taxpayers never to click on any link in a suspicious email.
Reporting Suspicious Emails
The IRS never communicates with taxpayers through unsolicited emails. Similarly, the Service never asks individuals for their personal identification numbers (PIN), passwords or other secret access information for credit and debit cards or other bank accounts.
Individuals who receive suspicious emails should never open them, the spokesperson advised. Instead, they should forward them to a special online mailbox that the IRS has created. The email address is phishing@irs.gov.
Over the past year, the IRS has identified a number of phishing scams.
- In November, the Service discovered criminals sending emails purportedly from the Taxpayer Advocate Service.
- Scam artists also used the California wildfires as cover for phishing scams.
- Another scheme claims that the recipient is the target of an IRS criminal investigation.
Many of the scams originate outside of the U.S., the spokesperson indicated. The IRS and the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) work with U.S. and international Internet service providers to have the phishing scams taken offline.
- Related items:
- IRS Warns Taxpayers of New E-Mail Scams
- IRS Cautions Taxpayers About Tax Scams
Posted January 14, 2008.
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