CONSUMER ALERTS

November 2009

Beware of the latest identity theft scams

The Internal Revenue Service warns consumers to beware of identity theft scams that use the IRS name, logo or website to try to convince taxpayers that the scam is an actual communication from the IRS or another federal agency.

      Identity thieves often pose as a government, financial or business institution or official to trick victims into revealing personal and financial information, such as credit card or bank account numbers, passwords, Social Security numbers and more. The scammers use the data to steal financial accounts, run up charges on the victim’s existing credit cards, apply for loans, credit cards, services or benefits in the victim’s name, and even file fake tax returns.

      These scams may take place through e-mail, fax or phone. The e-mail versions are called “phishing.” You should know that the IRS does not discuss tax account matters with taxpayers by e-mail.

      In the most common type of scam seen by the IRS, a bogus e-mail, which claims to be from the IRS, tells you that you are eligible to receive a tax refund for a given amount. The message instructs you to click on a link to access and complete a form for the refund that requires you to enter personal and financial information. Recent variations on this scam have claimed to come from the Exempt Organizations area of the IRS; others have included the name and purported signature of a genuine or made-up IRS executive. In fact, taxpayers do not have to complete a special form to obtain refunds, which are based on the tax returns that they submit to the IRS.

        In another recent scheme,  you receive an e-mail claiming to be from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. It notifies you that you’ll receive millions of dollars in recovered funds, lottery winnings or cash consignment if you provide certain personal information, including phone numbers, via return e-mail. This e-mail may be just the first step in a multi-step scheme, in which you are later contacted by phone or subsequent e-mail and instructed to deposit “taxes” on the funds or winnings before you can receive any of it. Alternatively, you may be sent a phony check and told to deposit it—but pay 10 percent in “taxes or fees,” money which goes to the scammers.

      Many e-mail scams are fairly sophisticated and hard to detect. You can find a list of signs that indicate a scam e-mail message on the IRS website at http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=211669,00.html.

      The IRS does not initiate taxpayer contact via unsolicited e-mail, nor does the agency ask for personal identifying or financial information via e-mail. If you receive a suspicious e-mail claiming to come from the IRS, do not open any attachments, in case they contain malicious code that will infect your computer. Do not click on any links, for the same reason. Also, be aware that these links often connect to a phony IRS website that appears authentic and then prompts the victim for personal identifiers, bank or credit card account numbers or PINs. The phony sites seem legitimate because the appearance and much of the content are directly copied from an actual page on the IRS site, then modified by the scammers.

      Contact the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 to determine whether the IRS is trying to contact you. Forward the suspicious e-mail or url address to the IRS mailbox phishing@irs.gov, then delete the e-mail from your inbox.

      The only genuine IRS website is IRS.gov. All IRS.gov web page addresses begin with http://www.irs.gov/. Anyone wishing to access the IRS site should initiate contact by typing the IRS.gov address into their Internet address window, rather than clicking on a link in an e-mail. For more information and tips, visit the site.