BBB Alerts About Tax-Related Fake E-mails

BBB (Better Business Bureau) is cautioning everyone preparing to pay taxes to watch out for tax scams that are doing the rounds this season. Most of these malicious campaigns reportedly are spreading via e-mails, which pose as communications from US tax agency the Internal Revenue Service. Wave3.com reported this on February 3, 2011.

Notably, as per one bogus IRS e-mail, the recipient is admonished that he hasn't yet provided W-2 information. Using the caption "W-2 Form Update," the e-mail appears authentic as the given phone numbers and URLs are exactly those of IRS.

Moreover, the e-mail directs that the recipient must follow the web-link so as to access the W-2 form. But, BBB cautions that the form, in reality isn't from IRS instead scammers have sent it to extract the user's personal information that's then utilized for committing ID-fraud.

BBB outlines that it's actually employers who supply the W-2 information, not people paying taxes.

Security researchers, while remarking about the problem, stated that the period of filing returns could be a year's very strenuous time, while online scammers were adding to the woe during the current year. Indeed, many IRS scams existed which began circulating during the present period each year that BBB was monitoring.

Observes the Bureau that occasionally citizens receive electronic mails from the "Treasury Department" mentioning about a tax reimbursement/inheritance for which the user must supply personal information.

Meanwhile, as the above type of scams is so malicious, BBB has suggested certain measures with which people can identify fake tax e-mails. One, IRS won't ever contact a customer over e-mail rather it'll write to him through a postal correspondence when it requires any information of him. Two, fake e-mails normally have misspellings that imply that the sender possibly doesn't know English as he may be situated in some foreign country.

Furthermore, BBB recommends end-users that they mustn't divulge their private details, including birth date, residence address, and Social Security Number in response to any e-mail however genuine it may appear.

Finally, anybody who may have already been victimized with this kind of scam e-mail must notify BBB about it soon.

Related article: BBA Outlines Steps To Ward Off Online Fraud

» SPAMfighter News - 2/15/2011