Small Business Owners Targeted by Fraudulent Tax E-mail

The US SBA (Small Business Owners Administration) is giving warning to owners of small businesses to be vigilant of a new suspicious e-mail. The officials of the Administration state that the e-mail belongs to an Internet phishing scam.

Carrying the SBA official letterhead, the hoax e-mail appears to be legitimate and authentic. Further, the investigating officials state that the content of the fake e-mail asks for banking and personal information from the entrepreneurs to find out whether their companies are eligible to receive a tax cut under the current scheme of federal economic stimulus.

Ben Carter, President of the Greater Augusta Regional Chamber of Commerce (USA), said that recipients must not give out the information asked in the e-mail, as no legitimate company, organization or bank would ever ask anyone to hand over such information via e-mail, as reported by whsv on February 23, 2009.

Besides, Carter further said that given the scenario of the ongoing global economic meltdown, Internet scams based on this topic are rapidly increasing.

Security specialists also state that similar to many scams purporting to be tax rebate schemes, the current scam is also taking advantage of the new economic stimulus program announced in early 2009. In fact, from the time of its inception, phishers have been marring the stimulus scheme with phishing assaults of different magnitudes.

Meanwhile, to help companies avoid the scam, security investigators are asking everyone getting an e-mail claiming to arrive from SBA to notify it to the Administration or contact at the Help-line number 1-800-767-0385. Furthermore, online help is also available for users to find out the things needed to look for in SBA e-mail. Business owners getting the phishing e-mail are further suggested to forward it at OIGHotline@sba.gov.

Moreover, security specialists are recommending that all people secure their computers with up-to-date spam filters to remain protected against unsolicited e-mails/other online frauds.

Meanwhile, the new SBA scam is quite the same as the Internet phishing scam in the name of Internal Revenue Service that is also lately asking for users' financial and personal details in connection with the stimulus package.

Related article: Small Organizations Too Can Be Hackers’ Target

» SPAMfighter News - 3/10/2009