If it seems too good to be true…

Add comment February 3rd, 2008

It looked official enough.  The e-mail that came to a couple of people in our newsroom had a blue-and-white “Internal Revenue Service” logo and even a very specific tax refund amount, already calculated. 

“After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $129.72,” it said in one case. “Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 3-9 days in order to process it.”

It went on to add that a refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons: “For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.”

Then it helpfully provided a link: ”To access your tax refund, please click here.”  After a “best-regards” finale, it even was copyrighted:

“© Copyright 2007, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved. ”

But the people in the newsroom who’d received this e-mail thought something was fishy. So they forwarded it to me.  I passed it along to Dennis Horton, regional director of the Rockford office of the Better Business Bureau.

We were right, it was “phishy.”

 Horton’s reply:  “Yes, it is a phishing scam – it first surfaced in 2005.

“It’s an attempt to get the recipient to click on the link and divulge social security numbers, and/or credit card and other personal financial information, which can be used for identity theft.”

The Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary defines “phishing” as ”a scam by which an e-mail user is duped into revealing personal or confidential information which the scammer can use illicitly.”

The Internal Revenue Service’s own Web site has a warning about these scams. You can see that warning here.   It lists other tax-refund scams, including a new one that makes the recipient think he or she is being audited by the IRS.  Unusual for a scam e-mail, it may contain a salutation in the body addressed to the specific recipient by name.  

Then there’s another phony e-mail addressed to businesses and accountants, telling them to download information on tax law changes by clicking on a series of links. The IRS believes the links load malware onto the user’s computer.

You can forward these suspicious e-mails to the IRS at its truly legitimate Web site; send them to phishing@irs.gov.

Bottom line is, says the IRS, “Filing a tax return is the only way to apply for a tax refund; there is no separate application form.”  And, “The IRS does not send unsolicited, tax-account related e-mails to taxpayers.”

Just remember the above, if you get one of these e-mails. Hey, these guys almost had us fooled, too.