IRS E-mail Scam Hit Again

The security experts have released a warning about an e-mail scam that came into the notice of CBS 6 News on June 16, 2010.

A CBS 6 News employee named "Dori Marlin" got a fake e-mail pretending to have come from the IRS.

As per the message written in the e-mail, the IRS has found that Dori Marlin is entitled to receive a tax refund of $773.80. The message further reveals that to access the tax refund Marlin can use the form attached with the e-mail.

When Marlin opened the attachment, he found that it required all the personal information like date-of-birth, social security number, debit or credit card information.

Besides, the attachment contains an official looking logo "IRS.gov." However, the careful scanning of the e-mail reveals that it has come from an address at "IRS.com."

When Marlin visited the official website of IRS, he came across a warning about impersonators who use the fake "IRS.com" designation. The IRS made it clear on the website that it had no connection with the designation and its links would remain "IRS.gov."

Expressing their opinion on the issue, the security experts state that there are several e-mail scams running on the Internet and use the name/logo of Internal Revenue Service. The prime objective of these scams - known as phishing - is to deceive tax payers so that they reveal their personal and financial information.

The scammers later exploit the user personal information for identity theft and stealing money.

The IRS wants that users should keep in mind certain things about the phishing scams - the IRS never sends unsolicited e-mails regarding tax account and never asks for the financial and personal information through e-mail.

Besides, the IRS never asks taxpayers to give PIN numbers, secret information about credit cards, bank accounts and other financial details.

Finally, if anyone has fallen victim to the phishing e-mail claiming to represent the IRS or direct towards the IRS website, then he should not reply to the message. The users should not click on any attachment as they might embed malicious codes that will spread infection to their computers.

Related article: IRS Cautions Taxpayers of Recent Email Scam

» SPAMfighter News - 6/28/2010