Sep 10, 2007 8:20 pm US/Eastern
IRS: Beware Of E-Mail Scam
by Jon Delano
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
If the Internal Revenue Service wanted to refund you some of your tax money, most people would take it.
However, when it comes to the government, if it looks too good to be true, there's probably danger attached.
Some people are getting e-mails from the IRS saying that they are eligible to receive a tax refund of $109.30
It tells recipients that all they have to do click on a form, fill it out, and wait six to nine days for my money.
But it's all a scam.
"What you received and what other taxpayers are receiving are bogus e-mails purporting to look like they are from the Internal Revenue Service, but they are not," said Andy Hromoko of the IRS. "They can set up an address line to make it look like it's coming from a dot.gov or dot.gov website which makes it look very legitimate but it is not."
People who fill out the form could have their identity and even money stolen.
"It is just a vehicle for them to get personal and financial information to either mess up your credit completely or wipe out your bank account in about twenty minutes after you push the send button," said Hromoko.
The IRS says there are three popular types of IRS r-mail scams:
•Promise of a Tax Refund
•Money to Take a Customer Survey
•Notice of Investigation
Beside the tax refund scam, another involves an offer of $80 to fill out a fraudulent IRS customer survey and another says you are under investigation and must fill out an attached form.
But here's the rule: never open or respond to an e-mail from the IRS.
"The Internal Revenue Service never, ever, sends out unsolicited emails asking you for that kind of information," said Hromoko.
(© MMVII, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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