Be Alert to Identity Theft
The Internal Revenue Service cautions taxpayers to be on the lookout for a new wave of scams using the IRS name in identity theft e-mails, faxes and phone calls that began circulating in May and June.>
Some Seton associates have received fraudulent e-mails that say they are entitled to tax refunds for Seton entities. These are NOT from the IRS.
The most common scams involve tax refunds and, this year, economic stimulus payments.
Like other “phishing” expeditions, most of these scams consist of e-mails requesting detailed personal information. Note that the IRS generally does not send e-mails to taxpayers, does not discuss tax account matters with taxpayers in e-mails, and does not request security-related personal information, such as PIN numbers, from taxpayers.
If you receive an e-mail claiming to come from the IRS, forward it to the following address: phishing@irs.gov. You can use the same address to alert the IRS to questionable phone calls.
And if you want to access the IRS Web site, type www.irs.gov into your Internet browser rather than clicking on a link in an e-mail or opening an attachment, either of which may download malicious code or send you to a phony Web site.
How Scams Work
To lure their victims, phishing scams use the name of a known institution to either offer a reward for taking a simple action, or threaten an unpleasant consequence, such as losing a refund, for failing to take the requested action.
The goal of the scams is to trick people into revealing personal and financial information, such as Social Security, bank account or credit card numbers, which the scammers can use to commit identity theft.
Typically, identity thieves use a victim’s personal and financial data to empty the victim’s 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, file fraudulent tax returns or even commit crimes. Most of these fraudulent activities can be committed electronically from a remote location, including overseas. Committing these activities in cyberspace allows scammers to act quickly and cover their tracks before the victim becomes aware of the theft.
Legitimate organizations do not request information via unsolicited emails.
Protect Yourself
Be leery of all unsolicited e-mails that make offers that seem too good to be true. Taking that next step - clicking on a link to access more details about the offer - could unleash malware, which, for example, can hijack your computer hard drive, give someone remote access to your computer, or search for passwords and other information and send them to the scammer.
Similarly, don’t respond to regular mail that addresses you by anything other than your legal name, especially if it requests detailed personal and financial information, such as mother’s maiden name (often used in security screening), bank account numbers, estimated assets, or copies of your driver’s license or passport.
The same goes for phone calls during which scammers ask you for personal and financial information. The U.S. Federal Trace Commission hosts a complete Internet site on avoiding scams.