Scam Alert: Beware of Fake IRS Email

By Anastacia Mott Austin

As people all over America daydream of ways to spend or save their "stimulus" checks from the government, some may never get the chance to carry out their plans.

A new email phishing scam has been making the rounds, and includes an email that seems to be from the IRS, directing the reader to a site that looks like the official IRS website. It then asks the user for personal information like social security numbers, pin numbers, and bank account information to arrange for a bogus direct deposit of the check.

Phishing scams, so called because of the thieves’ action of throwing out a wide net (i.e. sending a mass of emails) to see if they catch any victims, are on the rise, say experts in the field of Internet crime and identity theft.

If the thieves’ do manage to obtain this personal information, they will attempt to use it to run up charges in your name, open new credit accounts, or commit other crimes using your identity.

The official website for the IRS has a page warning consumers against phishing scams, and further explains the issue of this rising wave of Internet crime. "According to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC)…phishers send an e-mail or pop-up message that claims to be from a business or organization that you may deal with — for example, an Internet service provider (ISP), bank, online payment service, or even a government agency. The message may ask you to ‘update,’ ‘validate,’ or ‘confirm’ your account information," reads the IRS message.

It adds the information that sometimes the phishers will attempt to frighten victims into thinking they need to respond by a certain date or suffer some kind of consequence. This particular scam threatened that if people did not respond by a certain date that their checks could be delayed.

The IRS message urges people who may have received the bogus email to report it to the IRS, as they can sometimes locate the fraudulent sites and pursue criminal charges against the perpetrators.

Some identity theft experts estimate that as many as 300,000 Americans will become victims of this scam. "That's pretty much the average that we've seen from most phishing scams, until it gets reported out, and everyone finds out about it," said Jay Foley, a San Diego-based representative of an identity theft prevention firm, to reporters.

One way to tell it’s a fake? The IRS never contacts taxpayers by email, ever, says a representative from the IRS. "If you see an email from the IRS out of the blue, think scam," says IRS spokesperson Raphael Tulino to reporters.

Though there have been slightly different versions of this particular scam, most of the emails include the following information: "Over 130 million Americans will receive refunds as part of President Bush [sic] program to jumpstart the economy. Our records indicate that you are qualified to receive the 2008 Economic Stimulus Refund. The fastest and easiest way to receive your refund is by direct deposit to your checking/savings account. Please follow the link and fill out the form to ensure that your refund will be processed as soon as possible."

The url of some of the fake sites even have the tag "irs.gov" attached to them, which may mislead many to think it’s a legitimate site. But Tulino emphasizes that even if the website looks legit, if you receive an email that says it’s from the IRS, "It's bogus, and you should run from it."