Tax Season Alert:
Avoid Fake IRS Scams
It may feel early, but it's time to start cracking on your 2009 taxes. By January 31, you should have received W-2s and 1099 forms for the 2009 tax year—which means you can file any time. Be advised, though, that law-abiding citizens aren't the only people keeping a close eye on the IRS's yearly schedule. Identity thieves will take full advantage of the tax-filing season to prey on the unwary.
One
clever new scheme they've developed is an email, purporting to be from
the IRS, accusing the recipient of having underreported their income.
The victim is asked to download an attachment that the sender claims is
the relevant part of the victim's most recent tax return. Of course,
the attachment is actually a virus.
A similar scam relies on people's fear of an audit to get them to download a bogus information form. If the victim doesn't complete and return the form, the emailer, posing as an IRS representative, threatens to levy penalties and interest.
In both these cases—and in any other situation in which you get an email purporting to be from the IRS—remember that the IRS does not contact taxpayers over the Internet for any reason. Here's the word straight from the horse's mouth. All official communication is conducted the old-fashioned way—by the US Postal Service. If you do receive an email that appears to be from the IRS, don't open it. Junk it. And pay your taxes.
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