Phishing for Refunds On Wednesday 11/30/05, IRS issued a consumer fraud alert prompted by an internet scam in which taxpayers receive an e-mail informing them of a tax refund. The e-mail, which claims to come from IRS (more specifically, taxrefunds@irs.gov), directs the recipient to a link that requests personal information (such as SSNs and credit card information).As many of you know, this fraudulent practice is known as “phishing” and the fraudsters who extract this personal information generally use it to steal a taxpayer’s identity and subsequently wreck havoc by opening new credit cards, cell phones, and even home mortgages. (For more information on preventing phishing, see the Federal Trade Commission site and for general information on phishing, check out the Wikipedia site.

Bottom line: IRS never asks for identifying or financial information through unsolicited e-mail.

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