Phishing while posing as the Internal Revenue Service makes scammers rich

The tax season is upon us, and most Americans are busy preparing their tax returns, which are due on April 15. .No one likes to pay taxes, but even fewer people like to have audits by the Internal Revenue Service.  With e-mail messages showing up in people’s inboxes around the country that purport to be from the IRS, people are responding to them. Unfortunately, these are scams, and those who reply are quickly becoming victims of identity theft.

The scam works like this. The crooks send out e-mail messages that appear to be legitimately from the Internal Revenue Service. The messages explain that due to some sort of error, the IRS has lost some personal information from the recipient. The message may further state that this information will be required in order to process the recipient’s tax refund. Not wanting to miss out on a refund, most people quickly respond to the message, which requires them to click on a link that takes them to an official-looking IRS Website. There they can fill out a form that requests personal information, such as a Social Security number, or address or phone number or all of the above.

Unfortunately, it is all a financial scam. The Internal Revenue Service does not use e-mail to contact taxpayers. If they need to reach you, they will use either traditional mail through the United States Postal Service, or they will call you on the telephone. Any contact via e-mail is done by criminals who simply want to steal your personal information. Once they have it, they can use it to establish a new identity, posing as you. With that, they can open credit card accounts, take out bank loans or mortgages, and more, all in your name. Of course, they will not repay any of the loans, and eventually, those lenders will come looking for you.

This is just one of a number of tax related fraud schemes that are being perpetrated this year. Others involve tax preparation fraud, where a tax preparer may supply fraudulent information in order to get you a larger refund, or scams involving IRS “tax collectors” who actually have the nerve to go door to door, claiming that they are authorized to collect back taxes in person. The IRS does not participate in door to door collecting; they would much rather have you send in a check.

Taxpayers should also be aware of other scams where a caller might tell them that they are entitled to some long-lost refund involving Social Security, back taxes, earned income credit, or military service. These callers always demand upfront payment of “fees” associated with providing the refunds. They will take your fee and you will never hear from them again. Worse, they may steal your identity, too.

If you are contacted by someone claiming to be with the IRS, call the agency to confirm it. The call is toll free 1-900-829-1040.

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