Are you an Alien? New IRS Email Scam asks
Photo by: Erion.Shehaj
That’s the question a new scam going around in the name of the IRS is asking. The scam, which uses emails as its missives, holds out it would be in the recipient’s interest to answer. Targeted at foreign nationals residing in the US, the scam offers them a way to save tax.
The scam materializes in the form of an email from Ms. Laura Stevens from the IRS Public Relations department, out of the email address nonereply@irs.gov. A bold replica of the IRS letterhead adorns the top of the mail. The logo is also splashed across two documents sent as attachments to the mail.
The attachments are a couple of forms titled W-4100B2 or, if you prefer, the ‘Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner For United States Tax Withholding’. They are meant to be filled out and faxed ASAP to a given number, the mail recipients are told.
Doing so would save them taxes applicable on the interest in their bank-account savings. It would also shield from taxes, returns on their other investments in the US.
All they would have to do to avail of the exemption is to fill out the attached form and fax it to the IRS. Among the critical information recipients are asked to dole out via the form are their name, address, their various bank account numbers, social security number, and passport number.
Some folks recognized the scam in an instant. With some snooping, they discovered Form no.W-4100B2 was a fake, a sample of fertile fraudster-imagination. Moreover, it was fishy, they figured, that the mail asked recipients to fax their completed forms to numbers with 212 and 646 area codes even though the IRS is headquartered in Washington. This suggested to them, the mail was the work of a bunch of desperadoes in New York.
IRS officials own they have had enough of dealing with this type of scam. They urge recipients to help themselves by forwarding the emails to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov.
Source: TheLedger.com
Related posts:
- Craigslist selling fraud leads police to Anchorage
- Phising Scam Grips MobileMe Users
- Protection against Swine Flu Scams-Awareness vaccine
- Georgians warned against Email informing of Capital One Account hack
- Spam & Phishing Protection for Small Businesses
December 11th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
[...] Are you an Alien? New IRS Email Scam asks [...]
April 2nd, 2009 at 6:48 am
[...] Are you an Alien? New IRS Email Scam asks By admin That’s the question a new scam going around in the name of the IRS is asking. The scam, which uses emails as its missives, holds out it would be in the recipient’s interest to answer. Targeted at foreign nationals residing in the US, … Fraud and Scam News - http://www.419legal.org/blog/ [...]