A recent
uptick in scam IRS e - mail and phone calls has prompted urgent government
warnings
to
taxpayers. But people are finding that recognizing a bogus IRS contact is
tougher than they think. The tactics used by criminals to steal your identity
vary widely and are surprisingly sophisticated. A common recent scam is an
official-looking e - mail purporting to be from the IRS requesting an immediate
update to your e-file account. Anyone who clicks on the link will be taken
through a series of requests for personal information that might be used to commit
fraud in your name. And if you happen to divulge bank account information, they
may try to steal directly from you as well.
So what is the best way to protect
yourself against such a scheme? First, recognize what is NOT proof of a genuine
IRS contact. An IRS logo on an e - mail or letter, while adding the look of
authenticity, could have been lifted from the IRS website. An e -
mail from an address containing the letters “IRS” is also not a reliable sign.
Scammers can create e - mail addresses that look deceptively similar to IRS.gov
(the official IRS site). Surprisingly, even a scammer’s possession of the
last four digits of your social security number is not proof. This, too, can be
obtained by a thief.
Scammers will also try to appear genuine by following up
an e - mail with a phone call, or vice versa. They often create a sense of
urgency and threaten all sorts of legal and punitive actions if you don’t
respond immediately. Here is what you should do in response to any IRS contact.
If the first contact is by letter, forward a copy to
your tax preparer to determine if it is legitimate. If the initial contact is
by phone, do not provide any personal data over the phone. The call is most
likely not from the IRS. And if the first contact is by e - mail, do not
respond to it at all, and do not click on any attached links. The IRS does not initiate
contact by e - mail – ever. Instead, send it on to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov
to help prevent tax scams from spreading.