Wed, April 15, 2009
IRS Includes Phishing Scams Among Its “Dirty Dozen”
Periodically the IRS issues a list of tax scams that it considers especially troublesome. Most of the Dirty Dozen Tax Scams involve fraudulent tax filings and other abuses of the tax system. However, the first item on the list is “phishing:” the use of e-mails that appear to come from the IRS but that are actually from crooks looking for ways to steal bank account information, social security numbers, and other personal information.
During periods of general economic stress, frauds like this often increase. I wrote last summer about a bogus IRS e-mail that I received, with advice about the further dangers of IRS phone scams. There are probably millions of such scam e-mails in circulation.
The IRS warns that it never “initiates unsolicited e-mail contact with taxpayers about their tax issues.” If you receive an unsolicited e-mail claiming to be from the IRS, forward the message to phishing@irs.gov. IRS.gov provides further information on how to identify and report phishing schemes and what to do if you believe that you’ve been a victim of IRS-related identity theft.