Taxpayers of Northampton Township get IRS-spoofed Phishing E-mail

A fraudulent, phishing e-mail posing as a message from IRS, the U.S. tax agency, is presently circulating online as it targets unwitting people paying taxes across Northampton Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania (USA), published Levittown Patch dated January 10, 2012.

Bearing "Tax report #ID9794Tax Refund" as the header, the fake electronic mail tells the recipient that based on the most recent yearly computations of his financial operations, it's now determined that he's eligible for getting one tax re-imbursement amounting $115.24. The e-mail then requests him to make an application for the re-imbursement by submitting it online and allow 7-14 days for its processing. Incidentally, there maybe various reasons for a delay in the payment like submitting incorrect records alternatively applying past the deadline.

Aside this, the e-mail asks the recipient to open a given attachment and obtain the tax-refund online form that should be filled out as well as sent back.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania, USA based Northampton Township Police says that the scam electronic mail signs off from IRS. As per Barry Pilla, Chief-of-Police, the new IRS fraud has more or less been out since a while; however, it's currently back, reported Levittown Patch.

Hence Police Officers recommend end-users that they should adopt certain security measures so the possibilities about getting attacked and preyed on via phishing campaigns like the above kind, can be lessened.

These are: 1st, users must disregard e-mails asserting as IRS messages since the agency does not ever contact tax-paying citizens through e-mail. 2nd, IRS won't ever request for confidential information towards dispatching tax refunds over any -'online form' or 'e-mail.'

3rd, users must report phishing or other e-mail frauds as well as fake IRS websites, whenever they find them. This can be through forwarding of the URL alternatively electronic mail thought to be IRS spoofed, at IRS' phishing@irs.gov. Specifically, the forwarding can be of the whole e-mal alternatively, just its header on the top following which, the e-mail must be deleted permanently.

Eventually, tax refund-related malicious e-mail scam isn't merely hitting U.S taxpayers, since scams of similar type have been lately reported from countries such as Canada, Australia and India too.

Related article: Taxpayers Warned About Fake IRS Websites

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