It’s July and my taxes were filed and accepted months ago. Apparently scammers don’t know that and think I’ll fall for this email sent to me today (full text):
From – “IRS” <no-replygobac@irs.gov>
To – jghsghj@yahoo.com (Major tip off that the message is spam. That’s not me.)
Subject – IRS notification
Department of Treasury Internal Revenue Source
Important information about your tax return
We are unable to process your tax return
| We recived your tax return. However, we are unable to process the return as field.Our records indicate that the person identifiedas the primary taxpayer or spouse on the tax return did not provided all the required documents shown on the tax form. Our records are based on information received from the Social Security Administration.
Based on this information, the tax account for the individual has been locked |
What you need to doPrint out the attached notification and list of missing documents, fill it in, add the documents and send the following information to the adress shown in the attached notification.
List of required documents: 1. A copy of this letter 2. Notification letter 3. A photocopy of valid U.S. Federal or State Government issued identification. |
Keep this notice for your records. If you need assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
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I’m supposed to download a virus-infected document because the crook mentioned the scary IRS. Not happening here.
Keep an eye out for this one and forward it to phishing@irs.gov.
[...] It amazes me when I think of how much spammers put into their schemes. They harvest emails, but they can do that fairly easily with software, a purchase, or a hack into a legitimate mailing list. It takes a certain level of intelligence and arrogance to think people will fall victim to their charms and shell out their cash. I’ll admit, I’ve fallen for scams before, but those entailed finding work. Some of the newer crop of scams are different. They give the appearance of coming from an authority figure of some kind such as a police department or the IRS. [...]