Community Corner

IRS Tax Tip: Beware of New Phishing Scam

IRS becomes victim of Internet identity theft

The Internal Revenue Service issued a statement today warning New Yorkers of a new phishing scam that has been circulating across the state and in other places around the county. 

Phishing is a scam typically carried out by unsolicited email and/or websites that pose as legitimate sites and lure unsuspecting victims to provide personal and financial information.

This new scam comes as an e-mail appearing to be from the IRS with a subject line of “IRS Notification” and includes an attachment which when opened can cause serious harm to your computer. The e-mail claims the attachment will give details of taxes owed for the 2010-2011 tax year.

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Clicking a link or opening an attachment could download malicious software onto your computer. That could allow the sender to access your passwords, bank information and other things on your computer.

"The IRS does not send out unsolicited e-mails about a taxpayers account or ask for detailed personal and financial information," said Dianne Besunder, the IRS spokeswoman for New York. “The IRS also never asks people for the PIN numbers, passwords or similar secret access information for their credit card, bank or other financial accounts."

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The good news is that you can help shut down these schemes and prevent others from being victimized. Recipients of questionable e-mails claiming to come from the IRS should not open any attachments or click on any links contained in the e-mails.

Instead, they should forward the e-mail, as is, to phishing @irs.gov. After you forward the email and/or header information to the IRS, delete the original email message you received.

More information on phishing scams impersonating the IRS can be found on the IRS website, www.irs.gov by typing the keyword “phishing” into the search box.


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