IRS refund-related on-line scams

IRS Warns Taxpayers of Refund-Related Online Scams
Agency never uses e-mail as contact tool
By Bob Van Enkenvoort

The Internal Revenue Service warns that e-mails being circulated locally telling people that they are entitled to larger federal income tax refunds are bogus.

"We don't ever, ever, ever initiate contact through e-mail," Theresa Branscome, IRS media relations specialist, said on Tuesday morning. "There is no chance it is from us."

The text of the e-mail reads like this:
"Internal Revenue Service is glad to announce you that we recalculate tax on 2006 and we would like to inform you that you paid more that it was necessary. We apologize you that we committed this error and now we want to return your money back. We are glad to tell you that we will return your money electronically. Therefore we contact your bank and the institution agree to finalize this transaction."

A link is then provided for people to click on.
In the ongoing e-mail schemes that use the IRS name, the recipients are asked to click on links to take them to the "IRS" Web site. The links appear authentic and connect the victim to sites that resemble the IRS Web site. The sites then prompt the victim for personal identifiers, credit card numbers, PIN numbers or similar financial information.

The phony sites appear legitimate because most of the images and content are copied from actual pages on the IRS Web site before being modified by the fraudsters to include their loaded questions.

Branscome said such scams increase this time of year because people are waiting for their income tax refunds.
The information fraudulently obtained by scammers is used to steal the taxpayer's identity and then his or her financial assets.

"Always exercise caution when you receive unsolicited e-mails or e-mails from senders you don't know, and always verify the source," said IRS Commissioner Mark Everson, in a news release.