?In the scam, an unsuspecting taxpayer receives an unsolicited e mail that appears to come from the IRS. The e mail contains a URL linking to an online Member Satisfaction Survey.
We have seen many e mail scams using the IRS name, IRS Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support Linda Stiff said. The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers through e mail. Taxpayers should always use caution when they receive unsolicited e mails.
In this case, the e mail notifies the recipient that he or she has been randomly selected to participate in a survey. In return, the IRS will credit $80 to the taxpayers account. There are references to the IRS in the from line and the subject line of the e mail. The survey form features the IRS logo.
In addition to standard customer satisfaction survey questions, the survey requests the name and phone number of the participant and also asks for credit card information. Once the fraudsters have a name and phone number, they will presumably call the participant and attempt to retrieve other financial information.
The apparent objectives of this scam are to use the participants name and financial data to withdraw funds from the taxpayers bank account, run up charges on a credit card or take out loans in the taxpayers name.
Tricking victims into revealing private personal and financial information over the Internet, telephone or other means is a practice known as phishing.
IRS Never Sends Unsolicited e Mail
Taxpayers should be aware that the IRS does not send unsolicited e mail. Additionally, the IRS never asks taxpayers for PIN numbers, passwords or similar secret access information for credit card, bank or other financial accounts.
Recent Comments