Beware of Scam Emails Impersonating Revenue Commissioners

Rte.ie reported on 17th September, 2014 stating that Irish taxpayers are being warned about an email informing them that they are eligible for a tax refund from Revenue Commissioners which is the country's official taxing agency.

The scam emails entitled as "Tax Refund Application" asserts to notify its receivers that they are due to a tax rebate of 138.50 Euros.

A link is contained in the scam email which when clicked leads the victim to the supposed webpage of Irish Tax and Customs and once on this page he is asked to enter his personal details in order to receive his tax rebate.

To make the email look legitimate, it is written in English and in a very poorly translated Irish language.

However, ESET Ireland, an online security firm, confirmed that any Irish national would easily recognize the language translation, as a pitiable job of the Google.

It has also been observed that the fraudster's shoddy copy-paste job even eliminated all pronunciation characters from the email's text.

ESET Ireland stressed that besides these fallacies an average unknown user still had the probability of getting tricked by the email and the bogus website owing to its extremely official look.

When innocent users click on the links given in the email, they're directed to an Italian website www.comunespoleto.gov.it and then redirected to an Australia based bogus website actually registered in US containing all official markings of Irish Customs and Tax.

The Revenue Commissioners have warned that these emails are totally fraudulent.

The taxing agency (referring to Revenue Commissioners) also confirmed that they never ask people for personal information via pop-up windows or emails.

The government body is advising everyone to delete the received email or forward the same to webmaster@revenue.ie which appear to have come from the Revenue and seems to be a phishing scam and those who genuinely expect to get tax refund, should contact their local Revenue Office to get the status of the tax refund.

The taxing body concluded that those who have already responded to a fraudulent email and provided personal information must immediately check their bank and credit card accounts.

» SPAMfighter News - 9/24/2014