Don't Fall for 2008 IRS Rebate Scams

By now, most of you have heard that President Bush approved tax rebates. Most people who file 2007 taxes are due to receive some money and even though you are probably excited, there are criminals out there that are even more so. Why? Because they have a new opportunity to take advantage of unsuspecting people … don’t let them scam you!

With these new rebates, would-be thieves are using the telephone, the Internet, and even text messages to fool you and now more than ever, they seem official.

Often, the crooks send you emails appearing to be from the IRS. Because the criminals are computer savvy, they use graphics from the IRS website, cite tax statutes, and even portions of the internal revenue code. Needless to say, these emails can look very official. They often will inform you that you are eligible for a refund or that you qualify for an “early refund disbursement,” then ask you to click on a link to get your money. Don’t do it!

Once you click into one of these official looking websites, you will then likely be asked for personal information like social security numbers and bank accounts. This is the same kind of information that will be asked from you by a telephone-based criminal scam. Unfortunately, people who are usually not taken in by scams like this fall for these tricks because they're worried that if they don't do what is being asked, they won’t get their refunds. In fact, the crooks often tell people that exact thing. Don’t believe them.

The bottom line is that the IRS never sends unsolicited tax-account related e-mails or makes unsolicited tax-account related phone calls asking for your personal information. Anyone who is a target of these tricks should hang up the phone, or delete the email, and then report the scam attempt to IRS right away.

How to contact the IRS
Anyone wanting to access the IRS website (which is full of informative articles and useful
warnings about scams and identity theft), should type www.IRS.gov directly into their Internet address window. It is also important to know that all legitimate IRS web addresses begin with www.irs.gov.

Those that have received a questionable email or phone call that claims to come from the IRS should forward the email or detail the nature of the phone call at a special email mailbox set-up by the IRS for this purpose. It is phishing@irs.gov. If you are unsure of how to
do this correctly, the IRS has posted instructions in an article titled, “How to Protect Yourself
from Suspicious E-Mails or Phishing Schemes.” You can find this article by going to the IRS
website and typing “suspicious e-mails” into the search box in the upper right corner of the front page.