IRS Warns of
New Impersonation Scam
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and its
Security Summit have recently issued warnings about a new email impersonation
scam that is spreading rapidly across the country. Taxpayers began notifying the IRS earlier
this week about unsolicited emails from imposters, including emails claiming to
be sending tax filing reminders.
The scam emails will contain links to websites
that are similar in appearance to the IRS.gov website and that require the
taxpayers to login to an account, using a password created by the
scammers. The account claims to have
details about the taxpayer’s refund, tax return, and tax account history. However, the account is actually a link that
will infect the user’s computer with malware.
The imposters will use the malware to attempt to gain control of the
taxpayer’s computer or secretly download software to track keystrokes. This tracking can provide the scammer with sensitive
information, such as passwords to websites that the taxpayer frequents.
It is important to remember that the IRS will
never contact taxpayers via email, especially regarding tax sensitive
information such as refund statuses.
Likewise, the IRS will never initiate contact through text messages or
social media channels. If taxpayers
receive a message from the IRS via any of these channels, they should forward
the message immediately to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov. Also, if taxpayers feel they are the
recipient of a potential scam, they can call the IRS during business hours to
confirm the information they received.
These scams are similar to others in which
imposters will contact taxpayers over the phone and demand immediate payment of
taxes using methods such as prepaid debit cards, gift cards, or wire
transfers. Never submit payment via
these methods – the IRS will first send taxpayers a bill through the mail
before using other methods to collect tax due.
