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AnnouncementsProtecting Personal Information
The IRS has issued a warning to consumers: Steer clear of identity theft scams that use the tax agency's name, logo or Web site. Criminals may also use other federal agency names, such as the U.S. Department of the Treasury, in an attempt to convince taxpayers that a scam is a genuine communication.
In identity theft crimes, fraudsters try to trick victims into revealing personal information. This can include credit card numbers, bank account information, passwords, Social Security numbers and more. Often, the criminals pose as a trusted government, financial or business institution or official.
Generally, identity thieves use someone's personal data to steal financial accounts, run up charges on existing credit cards, apply for new loans, credit cards, services or benefits in the victim's name and even file fraudulent tax returns.
The IRS urges consumers to avoid becoming a victim of four recent schemes:
Rip-Off #1: Claim the "Making Work Pay" Refund
This e-mail message, purportedly from the IRS, mentions the Making Work Pay provision, which is part of a law passed earlier this year. The message states there is a refundable credit available to workers, consumers and retirees that can be paid into the recipient's bank account if the person provides information to the IRS. The e-mail contains links to "register" and claim the tax refund.
The IRS explains that most wage-earners receive the Making Work Pay credit in their paychecks as a result of decreased tax withholding, not as a lump sum distribution paid into a bank account. Consumers and retirees who are not wage earners are not eligible for the tax credit.
Rip-Off #2: Collect Inherited Funds, Lottery Winnings or Cash Consignment
In this scheme, recipients receive e-mail messages claiming to come from the U.S. Department of the Treasury. The messages notify recipients that they will receive millions of dollars in recovered funds, lottery winnings or cash consignment if they provide personal information, including phone numbers, via return e-mail.
The e-mail may be just the first step in a multi-step scheme. Later, the victims may be contacted by telephone or further e-mail messages and instructed to deposit taxes on the funds or winnings before they can receive them. Alternatively, a victim may be sent a phony check of the funds or winnings and told to deposit it but pay 10 percent in taxes or fees. Thinking that the check must have cleared the bank and is genuine, some people comply. However, the scammers, not the Treasury Department, get the money.
Rip-Off #3: Fill Out IRS Form W-8BEN
In this scam, fraudsters modify a genuine IRS form, the W-8BEN, Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding. On it, victims are asked to provide detailed personal and financial information. This could include nationality, passport number, bank accounts, passwords, spouse's name, mother's maiden name, or other information for financial accounts. The scammers may use the actual IRS form number and name, or may make up a new form number, such as W-4100B2.
The form or letter is either e-mailed or faxed. The letter, which claims to come from the IRS, states that the recipient will face additional taxes unless he or she quickly faxes the required information to the number provided by the scammer.
In reality, required taxpayers file Form W-8BEN with their financial institutions, not with the IRS. Additionally, the genuine W-8BEN does not request a taxpayer's passport number, bank account number, and other information.
Rip-Off #4: Receive a Tax Refund
This bogus e-mail, which claims to come from the IRS, tells the recipient that he or she is eligible to receive a tax refund for a certain amount. It instructs the recipient to click on a link contained in the e-mail to access and complete a form, which requires personal and financial information. These types of refund promises are the most common scam the IRS has seen. Recent variations have claimed to come from the IRS Exempt Organization office. Others have included the name and purported signature of a real or a made-up IRS executive.
Taxpayers do not have to complete a special form to obtain refunds. They are based on the tax returns submitted to the IRS.
How to Spot a Scam
Keep in mind that the IRS does not discuss tax account matters with taxpayers by e-mail. Despite this fact, many e-mail scams are fairly sophisticated and hard for many people to detect. Here are some clues:
- Beware of e-mail messages that request detailed personal and/or financial information, or an unusual amount of it. This can include your name, Social Security number, bank or credit card account numbers or security-related information, such as your mother's maiden name. The information can be requested in the e-mail itself or on another Web site you are sent to with a link.
- Don't take the bait on enticing messages, such as those mentioning a tax refund or offering to pay you to participate in a survey.
- Don't respond to e-mail messages that threaten a consequence for not responding, such as additional taxes or blocking access to funds.
- Watch out for correspondence that gets the names of the Internal Revenue Service or other federal agencies wrong. Similarly, many con artists use incorrect grammar or odd phrasing. The reason: Many of the e-mail scams originate overseas and are written by non-native English speakers.
- Don't click on links in messages with really long addresses or URLs that do not start with the actual IRS Web site address (www.irs.gov). To see the actual link address, move the mouse over the link included in the text of an e-mail. The only genuine IRS Web site is IRS.gov. Anyone wishing to access the site should initiate contact by typing www.IRS.gov into their Internet address window, rather than clicking on a link in an e-mail.
What to Do if You Receive a Suspicious Message
If you receive a suspicious e-mail claiming to come from the IRS, take the following steps:
- Do not open attachments to e-mail messages, in case they contain malicious code that can infect your computer.
- For the same reason, don't click on links. Be aware that the links often connect to a phony IRS Web site that appears authentic and then prompts the victim to enter personal identification. The fake Web sites appear legitimate because the appearance and much of the content are directly copied from actual pages on the IRS site and then modified by scammers for their own purposes.
- Contact the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 to determine whether the IRS is trying to contact you.
- Forward the suspicious e-mail or URL address to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov, then delete the e-mail from your inbox.
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