Beware of Phony IRS Email Scam
Today a client forwarded an email to us that purported to be from the IRS. The message contained the official IRS logo, and showed “Identity Verification” in the subject line. The body of the email asked:
“Kindly verify your information from a 1040 tax form that you filed within the last six years. Follow the reference below to verify your identity. This information is use for identity verification purposes only.”
The email included a bogus link to an IRS website – the link read “www.irs.gov”, but the underlying address was something much different, as we could tell by hovering a mouse pointer over the address. And there were at least two other problems with the email:
1. IRS almost never uses email to communicate with taxpayers.
2. The return address was not an IRS email address.
We learned through our local CPA forum – again just today – that this has happened to clients of other tax preparers.
So, if you receive an email from IRS, you should neither respond to it nor click the link. If you want to report the email to IRS, go to: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Report-Phishing (which is the real thing.)
Today a client forwarded an email to us that purported to be from the IRS. The message contained the official IRS logo, and showed “Identity Verification” in the subject line. The body of the email asked:
“Kindly verify your information from a 1040 tax form that you filed within the last six years. Follow the reference below to verify your identity. This information is use for identity verification purposes only.”
The email included a bogus link to an IRS website – the link read “www.irs.gov”, but the underlying address was something much different, as we could tell by hovering a mouse pointer over the address. And there were at least two other problems with the email:
1. IRS almost never uses email to communicate with taxpayers.
2. The return address was not an IRS email address.
We learned through our local CPA forum – again just today – that this has happened to clients of other tax preparers.
So, if you receive an email from IRS, you should neither respond to it nor click the link. If you want to report the email to IRS, go to: http://www.irs.gov/uac/Report-Phishing (which is the real thing.)
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