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IRS Name Used in Phoney E-mail and Telephone Scams
The Internal Revenue Service has issued an alert warning that the IRS name and logo is being used by fraudsters attempting to access the taxpayer financial information through e-mail, telephone, and cell phone text messaging.
Note: The IRS does not ask for personal identifying or financial information via unsolicited e-mail, telephone calls, or text messaging.
The following scams are being used to trick taxpayers into divulging financial account information for fraudulent purposes:
- Taxpayers receive a phone calls telling them that they are eligible for a sizable rebate for filing their taxes early, and they are told to provide their financial account information for direct deposit.
- Taxpayers receive e-mails that claim they are eligible for a tax refund of a specific amount, and they are instructed to click on the link in the e-mail to access the refund claim form, which requires them to disclose financial account information.
- E-mail notifications addressed to individual taxpayers claim that their tax returns will be audited. The individual is instructed to click on the link within the e-mail and complete forms disclosing personal and financial account information.
- Businesses, accountants, and “Treasury” managers are receiving bogus e-mails regarding tax law changes. To obtain information on publications for businesses, estates taxes, excise taxes, exempt organizations, as well as IRAs and other retirement plans, the recipient is instructed to click on a series of links. The IRS suspects that clicking on these links downloads “malware” onto the recipient’s computer, which can be used to search for financial records and other private information.
- A person claiming to be an IRS employee telephones taxpayers to say the IRS has mailed them a check that has not been cashed. The caller then asks for verification of financial account information.
Loss Prevention Recommendations:
If you receive an unsolicited e-mail purporting to be from the IRS, take the following steps:
- Do not open any attachments to the e-mail; they could contain malicious code that will infect your computer.
- Forward a questionable e-mail claiming to be from the IRS to phishing@irs.gov.
- Use instructions contained in an article online at www.irs.gov titled “How to Protect Yourself from Suspicious E-Mails or Phishing Schemes.” http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=155344,00.html
- Contact the IRS at 800-829-1040 to determine whether the IRS is trying to contact you about a tax refund.
- Remember that taxpayers do not have to complete a special form to obtain a refund.
- If you have received this, or a similar hoax, please file a complaint at www.ic3.gov.
CUNA target of new card-activation phish attempt
CUNA, (NOT CUNA Mutual Group), is being used as the subject of a phishing message targeting your credit union members to collect personal account information, plastic card numbers, and passwords. CUNA is warning people who receive the e-mail not to click on the link to the fake web page, just delete the message.
This new phishing-scam attempt using the Credit Union National Association's name, informs recipients about "irregular check card activity" and advises them to call a toll-free number to get any restrictions removed. Calling the toll-free number is a "bad idea," says Dorothy Steffens, CUNA's vice president of web services, 800-356-9655 ex 5719. The call is a ploy to get personal account information, possibly for identity theft purposes.
Recipients received a message as a:
"CUNA Alert: Irregular Check Card Activity"
"We detected irregular activity on check card on Oct. 25/2007. For your protection, you must reactivate your card. Call us immediately at 1.866.840.2863. We will review the activity on your account with you and upon verification, we will remove any restrictions placed on your account.
Please disregard this notice if you have already accessed the website or spoken with one of our representatives."
As a trade association for U.S. credit unions, "CUNA does not maintain any type of customer/member financial information," emphasized Steffens, adding that "your financial institution would never request personal identification information over the phone."
And while this phone number has since been disabled, a new phishing e-mail with a different phone number started making the rounds on October 30, 2007.
"Anyone responding to any e-mails of this type should contact their financial institution directly using the phone number provided by it," she said.
Also, another phish making the rounds earlier with CUNA's name on it comes from a gmail.com address and addresses "Credit Union National Association SERVICE." It says CUNA ensures security "by regularly screening the accounts in our system. We recently reviewed your account, and we need more information to help us provide you with secure service." It provides a "case ID" and a link to a fake website mimicking CUNA's.
Beware of Tax Related Scams
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is specifically cautioning Internet users about identity thieves that are sending out thousands of phony phishing email messages in the name of the IRS. The fraudulent messages use email addresses like tax-refunds@irs.gov , service@irs.gov and admin@irs.gov and request that recipients click on a link that takes them to a bogus IRS website where they are asked to provide sensitive financial information.
While the IRS may use email to contact you, they are currently not contacting citizens by email and they do not request sensative information via e-mail, so any email that appears to come from the IRS should be considered suspect. You can contact the IRS at their toll-free number, 800-829-1040, with questions on the legitimacy of any communications.
A sample of one of the e-mails is:
-----Original Message-----
From: Internal Revenue Service [mailto:service@irs.gov]
Sent: Friday, September 28, 2007 2:49 AM
Subject: [SPAM] Notification - Fiscal Activity (Tax Refund)
Importance: Low
After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that
you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $268.32.
Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 3-6 days in order to
process it.
A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons.
For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.
To access the form for your tax refund, please click here
Note: For security reasons, we will record your ip-address, the date and time.
Deliberate wrong inputs are criminally pursued and indicated.
Regards,
Internal Revenue Service
© Copyright 2007, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved.
E-MAIL SCAM ALERT
Some Home Banking products have been targeted by a phishing scam using an e-mail that states the credit union has noticed several attempts by the member to log into their On-line Banking product.It further states that due to multiple password failures, the member now needs to update their account information.
A very convincing “Account Banking Update” screen that looks like their credit union’s website is delivered by a link in the e-mail for the member to use.It asks for the member ID, password, credit card number with expiration date and ATM PIN.It gives the member a deadline of May 31, 2007.If this deadline is not met, they claim to disable the member’s account “indefinitely.”
Please be aware that this is a scam and that if you would receive such an e-mail, neither Peninsula Federal Credit Union nor it’s data processor would contact any of our members concerning their account information by way of an e-mail.
TELEPHONE PHISHING SCAM
Credit union members are receiving telephone scam calls that are automated and insistent that the cardholder call a toll free number to update important financial information. Once the toll free number is dialed an automated phone system asks for the card number (credit or debit), PIN and expiration date.
The automated calls DO NOT come from a legitimate source. Credit unions, banks, credit and debit card companies (or any legitimate financial institution) DO NOT contact their members to ask for this information - they already have it.
DO NOT CALL THE TOLL FREE NUMBER if you receive one of these calls or reply to e-mails that direct you to update your personal information. If you have problems with your card, need to update your personal information or need help with your card, only use the phone number that is printed on the back of your card or call directly to your financial institution.
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