Watch Out for Tax Scams - The Internal Revenue Service reminds consumers to avoid identity theft scams that use the IRS name, logo or Web site in an attempt to convince taxpayers that the scam is a genuine communication from the IRS. Scammers may use other federal agency names, such as the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
The
Internal Revenue Service reminds consumers to avoid identity theft
scams that use the IRS name, logo or Web site in an attempt to
convince taxpayers that the scam is a genuine communication from the
IRS. Scammers may use other federal agency names, such as the U.S.
Department of the Treasury.
In an
identity theft scam, a fraudster, often posing as a trusted
government, financial or business institution or official, tries to
trick a victim into revealing personal and financial information,
such as credit card numbers and passwords, bank account numbers and
passwords, Social Security numbers and more. Generally, identity
thieves use someone's personal data to steal his or her financial
accounts, run up charges on the victim's existing credit cards, apply
for new loans, credit cards, services or benefits in the victim's
name and even file fraudulent tax returns.
The
scam may take place through e-mail, fax or phone. When they take
place via e-mail, they are called “phishing” scams.
The IRS
does not discuss tax account matters with taxpayers by e-mail.
The IRS
urges consumers to avoid falling for the following recent schemes:
Making Work Pay Refund
This
phishing e-mail, which claims to come from the IRS, references the
president and the Making Work Pay provision of the 2009 economic
recovery law. It says that there is a refundable credit available to
workers, consumers and retirees that can be paid into the recipient's
bank account if the recipient registers their account information
with the IRS. The e-mail contains links to register the account and
to claim the tax refund.
In
reality, most taxpayers receive their Making Work Pay tax credit,
which was designed for wage earners, in their paychecks as a result
of decreased tax withholding, not as a lump sum distribution from a
federal fund. Additionally, consumers and retirees who are not wage
earners are not eligible for this tax credit.
In this
phishing scheme, recipients receive an e-mail claiming to come from
the U.S. Department of the Treasury notifying them that they will
receive millions of dollars in recovered funds or lottery winnings or
cash consignment if they provide certain personal information,
including phone numbers, via return e-mail. The e-mail may be just
the first step in a multi-step scheme, in which the victim is later
contacted by telephone or further e-mail and instructed to deposit
taxes on the funds or winnings before they can receive any of it.
Alternatively, they may be sent a phony check of the funds or
winnings and told to deposit it but pay 10 percent in taxes or fees.
Thinking that the check must have cleared the bank and is genuine,
some people comply. However, the scammers, not the Treasury
Department, will get the taxes or fees.
From W-8BEN
In this
scam, fraudsters modify a genuine IRS form, the W-8BEN, Certificate
of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax
Withholding, to request detailed personal and financial information.
This could include nationality, passport number, bank account and PIN
numbers, spouse's name and mother's maiden name, or other personal or
financial information or security measures for financial accounts.
The scammers may use the genuine form number and name or may make up
a new form number, such as W-4100B2.
They
either e-mail or fax the form or letter. If only a letter, the
letter itself contains the request for the personal and financial
information. The letter, which claims to come from the IRS, states
that the recipient will face additional taxes unless he or she
quickly faxes the required information to the number provided by the
scammer.
In
reality, taxpayers file the genuine Form W-8BEN with their financial
institutions, not with the IRS. Additionally, the genuine W-8BEN
does not request the taxpayer's passport number, bank account number,
security or similar information.
Refund Scam
The
bogus e-mail, which claims to come from the IRS, tells the recipient
that he or she is eligible to receive a tax refund for a given
amount. It instructs the recipient to click on a link contained in
the e-mail to access and complete a form for the tax refund. The
form requires the entry of personal and financial information. The
refund scam is the most common one seen by the IRS. Several recent
variations on this scam have claimed to come from the Exempt
Organizations area of the IRS. Some others have included the name
and purported signature of a genuine or a made-up IRS executive.
Taxpayers
do not have to complete a special form to obtain a refund. Taxpayer
refunds are based on the tax return they submit to the IRS.
How to Spot a Scam
Many
e-mail scams are fairly sophisticated and hard to detect. However,
there are signs to watch for, such as an e-mail that:
Requests
detailed or an unusual amount of personal and/or financial
information, such as name, SSN, bank or credit card account numbers
or security-related information, such as mother's maiden name,
either in the e-mail itself or on another site to which a link in
the e-mail sends the recipient.
Dangles
bait to get the recipient to respond to the e-mail, such as
mentioning a tax refund or offering to pay the recipient to
participate in an IRS survey.
Threatens
a consequence for not responding to the e-mail, such as additional
taxes or blocking access to the recipient's funds.
Gets
the Internal Revenue Service or other federal agency names wrong.
Uses
incorrect grammar or odd phrasing (many of the e-mail scams
originate overseas and are written by non-native English speakers).
Uses
a really long address in any link contained in the e-mail message or
one that does not start with the actual IRS Web site address
(www.irs.gov). To see the actual
link address, or URL, move the mouse over the link included in the
text of the e-mail.
What to Do
The IRS
does not initiate taxpayer contact via unsolicited e-mail or ask for
personal identifying or financial information via e-mail. If you
receive a suspicious e-mail claiming to come from the IRS, take the
following steps:
Do
not open any attachments to the e-mail, in case they contain
malicious code that will infect your computer.
Do
not click on any links, for the same reason. Also, be aware that
the links often connect to a phony IRS Web site that appears
authentic and then prompts the victim for personal identifiers, bank
or credit card account numbers or PINs. The phony Web sites appear
legitimate because the appearance and much of the content are
directly copies from the actual page on the IRS Web site and then
modified by the scammers for their own purposes.
Contact
the IRS at 1-800-829-10400 to determine whether the IRS is trying to
contact you.
Forward
the suspicious e-mail or URL address to the IRS mailbox
phishing@irs.gov, then delete
the e-mail from your inbox.
Genuine IRS Web site
Anyone
wishing to access the IRS Web site should initiate contact by typing
the IRS.gov address into their internet address window, rather than
clicking on a link in an e-mail.
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