Tax Refund Scam: IRS Warns that Season for Scammers has just begun!
We are nearing that part of the year when “tax” and “rebates” is going to be on everyone’s lips. The Department of Internal Revenue Service, through a recent press release, has warned that “phishing” scammers might wake up to the opportunity here to con and make some dirty money.
Scammers might email or call claiming that they can help recipients get a tax refund from IRS without waiting to file a return. They, then, ask email recipients to visit a website and submit personal data like Social Security/bank account number. Their intention, of course, is to steal identity of simple folks and then gain from its misuse. By dangling the attractive proposition, scammers use these details to conduct fraudulent transactions.
Their first targets would be businessmen and accountants, to whom they would send their missives that carry requests to download information about the latest tax laws from a particular website. While the target does so, the tainted website plants software that will allow the scammer access to client information stored in the target’s disk.
Alternatively scammers, acting as IRS employees, might train their eyes on ordinary tax payers and claim in their email that the recipient has not claimed a tax refund check posted to them by IRS. To reissue the check, the recipient would be asked to confirm their bank account numbers and social security info.
The timing of the scam cannot be more apt. Advance tax refund is one of the packages supported by Mr.Bush seeking to revitalize the economy. While not in place as yet, it has been approved by the House of Representatives and also is set to be passed by the Senate.
Fraudsters will be looking to take advantage of people not aware of this fact and mistake the scheme to be already in place. But, IRS, aiming to spoil their party, wants people to know that till such time that the scheme is actually legalized, filing a return is going to be the only way towards claiming a refund.
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I am going through a divorce and my husband or his girlfriend sighned my name on back of the Tax return we got in the mail for $1,800.00. I am not sure what number to call or who to contact for this information. Also when he got the first check in the mail he had it direct deposited into our joint account. He closed that account and opened a new account with his girlfriend. Please help!!
June 25th, 2008 at 5:47 pmPatricia