IRS on Identity Theft Scams

The Internal Revenue Service reminds consumers to avoid identity theft scams that use its name, logo or website in an attempt to convince taxpayers that the scam is a genuine IRS communication.   

In an identity theft scam, a fraudster, often posing as a trusted government, financial or business institution or official, tries to trick a victim into revealing personal and financial information, such as credit card numbers and passwords, bank account numbers and passwords, Social Security numbers and more. Generally, identity thieves use someone’s personal data to steal his or her 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 and even file fraudulent tax returns.

The scams may take place through e-mail, fax or phone. When they take place via e-mail, they are called “phishing” scams.  A 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 given amount. It instructs the recipient to click on a link contained in the e-mail to access and complete a form for the tax refund. The form requires the entry of personal and financial information.

The IRS does not initiate taxpayer contact via unsolicited e-mail or ask for personal identifying or financial information via e-mail. Taxpayers do not have to complete a special form to obtain a refund. 

Taxpayer refunds are based on the tax return they submit to the IRS.  If you receive a suspicious e-mail claiming to come from the IRS: 

•   Do not open any attachments to the e-mail, in case they contain malicious code that will infect your computer.
•   Do not click on any links, for the same reason. Also, be aware that the links often connect to a phony IRS website that appears authentic and then prompts the victim for personal identifiers, bank or credit card account numbers or PINs. The phony websites appear legitimate because the appearance and much of the content are directly copied from an actual page on the IRS website and then modified by the scammers for their own purposes.
•   Contact the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 to determine if the IRS is trying to contact you. 
•   Forward the suspicious e-mail or url address to the IRS mailbox phishing@irs.gov, then delete the e-mail from your inbox.

The only genuine IRS website is IRS.gov.  All IRS.gov webpage addresses begin with http://www.irs.gov/. Anyone wishing to access the IRS website should initiate contact by typing the IRS.gov address into their internet address window, rather than clicking on a link in an e-mail.