Tax Refund Notification
After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity, we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of 1527.29 USD. Please submit the tax refund request and allow 6-9 days in order to process it.
Click Here to submit you tax refund request
Note : A refund can be delayed a variety of reasons, for example submitting invalid records or applying after deadline.
Yours Sincerely
Internal Revenue Service.
The was a hyperlink that would go to at eecu.net.
Again, if you get one of these, it is a scam.
How can I tell it's a scam?
First of all, the IRS will never contact you by email to offer you a refund. They will use regular mail.
Second, while the mail is mostly grammatically correct, The lack of a dollar sign on the amount is suspicious.
Third, the link goes someplace other than Irs.Gov
If you would like more information about phishing attempts and scam emails pretending to be from the IRS, please visit this page on the IRS web site.
Or if I've scared you away from clicking links, go directly to the IRS websites at IRS.gov. You'll see a link called "Report Phishing" in the upper right hand corner. There's some great information there.
If you receive a scam email purporting to be from the IRS, forward it to phishing@irs.gov
4 comments:
I don't ever believe anything I get in an email. If I think something MIGHT have merit I open a new window and research it.
all the headache caused by this problems can be solved by using BitDefender Internet Security 2009 cause it has a very good anti-phishing engine, and updates hourly the database of sites that are scam
You are definitely not alone. I saw this story in the Miami Herald a month ago: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/action-line/story/1114430.html
I can only imagine how many people have fallen victim to this scam. On one hand, you need to think to yourself, "How would the IRS get my email address?" After all, you don't list it on your 1040. Then again, in this age where so many people file their own taxes through free online preparation services, I can see why some people may not question the validity of this correspondence.
@Sheila Sultani: Generally a good practice.
@Edward Stream: I worry about soem of those phishing software solutions. They can be a good tool, but are no substitute for critical thinking and evaluating these things.
@Harvey Flam: I like to publicize the less-obvious scams (less obvious because it isn't' screaming "ViAGRA!") just so that there are more Google results telling people it's a scam. Though someone likely to fall for it may not be as likely to Google it.
Post a Comment