Tip #4677 - More on IRS Phishing Attacks Printer Friendly Version | E-Mail This Tip
More
on IRS Phishing Attacks
I'm sure you all
know it's tax time again, right? As we all battle the hassles of doing
our taxes, some phishers have decided to take advantage of this time
of year. As you know, phishing is the act of sending e-mail or other
communications with the intent of trying to get personal information
from an individual. Since it's tax time, it's the perfect opportunity
for phishers to pretend they're the IRS. They will send an e-mail
that appears to be from the IRS. They will ask you to click on a link
or reply to an e-mail and provide your personal information, such
as your social security number, birth date, tax payer IDs, bank account
information and so on.
The IRS has reported
that phishing scams using their name has gone up nearly 12 times the
amount of last year. The IRS has also said that they have shut down
nearly 1,700 phishing Web sites that claim to be part of their service.
This issue has grown to be a huge problem. With these threats at an
all time high and identity theft also being a major issue, it's important
not to fall as a victim to one of these attacks.
Protecting yourself
from these types of attacks can be tricky though. Many attempts at
phishing your personal information will seem very real. They will
appear to be a legitimate e-mail from the IRS asking for your information.
The links in the e-mails will take you to Web sites that appear to
belong to the IRS, which is why they have made a very clear policy
for e-mailing. The following is a quote from the official IRS Web
site:
“The
IRS never sends out unsolicited e-mails and under no circumstances,
requests credit card information and pin numbers through e-mail. Persons
receiving e-mails that claim to be from the IRS should not attempt
to visit any site contained within the e-mail and should report suspicious
e-mails to TIGTA or the IRS.”
If you feel you
have received a phishing e-mail that claims to be from the IRS, you
should not delete the e-mail. Rather, you should immediately forward
it to the phishing@irs.gov address.
Doing that will help the IRS find and prosecute the people who are
creating the phishing attacks. It will not only help you to stay safe,
but it will help others remain safe as well. Until
next time, stay safe out there, my friends!
~ Gary
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