Fake IRS Tax Refunds

Emails are being sent claiming to be from USA’s IRS department. They claim to offer a $375 refund for filling out a form. The form is hosted on a hacked web site, not on the IRS’s web site. The form asks for a large amount of personal information including credit card numbers and PIN numbers. This information is collected (a trick known as phishing) and later used to commit identity theft (and effectively stealing your money).

cash_hand When doing any taxes online please ensure the website is correct. See this earlier article on how to recognise deceptive domain names (URLs) and check for SSL certificates on the page (double click on the padlock icon in Internet Explorer, read who owns the site).

Good antivirus packages these days will also keep track of which web sites you go to and alert you if it’s a known fraud site. So it’s a good investment to purchase one.

2 thoughts on “Fake IRS Tax Refunds”

  1. I found your site on technorati and read a few of your other posts. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed to my Google News Reader. Looking forward to reading more from you.

    Aaron Wakling

  2. Aaron Wakling’s comments are part of a scam. If you google “Aaron Wakling” you’ll find the exact same message on a large number of web sites. I assume it’s an effort to drive more people to his web site.
    I’ve left it here to demonstrate how easy it is to google something that looks suspicious and to discover why it was sent.
    (Note: I’ve removed the link to his web site)

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