Swindlers Send New Phishing E-mail, Supposedly from IRS

According to IRS, Internal Revenue Service, a new e-mails, supposedly from the agency using the address irs@irs.gov is being circulated; however, IRS describes it as scam e-mail.

The scam e-mail, containing the signature of someone named Cindy Foster, tells the recipient that he's yet to submit his 1042W form. Therefore, he must complete a pair of attached forms after which he must send them through fax at a given number, 780 as the area code.

Reportedly, the forms enquire the user's sensitive details like name, address, Social Security number and payment card details.

Michael Dobzinski, Media Relations Specialist of IRS, said that the biggest clue that the e-mail is bogus is that IRS never dispatches e-mail soliciting its recipient's financial or other personal information, according to a statement published by Wtsp.com on April 14, 2010.

More clues that suggest the scam e-mail's falsity are weak sentence construction and poor grammar.

Furthermore, the funniest thing about the message is that no form called 1042W actually exists.

According to Dobzinski, the form is non-existent and that everything about the e-mail it is related to earn bucks.

Notably, Proofpoint, a security firm, says that phishing campaigns related to tax issues have been ongoing since some weeks.

Further, according to the security firm SonicWALL, over 100 Million phishing e-mails in the name of IRS are most likely to be dispatched randomly to people paying taxes during the period approaching and also following April 15, the deadline for filing taxes.

Therefore, SonicWALL recommends that taxpayers should access and peruse the websites for tax preparers, or ring up the firms for knowing the returns-filing status. Taxpayers should also remain wary of loan proposals against their IT reimbursement, a number of which represents fraudulent schemes.

Additionally, Microsoft suggests that the online tax-filers must know to distinguish IRS' official website. Users must also ensure that the website on which they're filing returns has the prefix "https" to its URL to indicate that the site is secured. Similarly, a padlock symbol must be there at the Web-browser's bottom.

To conclude, recipients shall forward the phishing e-mail to the IRS, while anyone victimized of ID theft should report his case to the Federal Trade Commission.

» SPAMfighter News - 4/26/2010