Along with the taxman comes an inevitable new breed of scam artists. That's why you need to be on guard--especially for unscrupulous scammers, who are sending emails that appear to be from the IRS. The content of the emails are often written to persuade you to link to a website that will allow you to update your data or receive important information.
Remember, these phony emails are quite sophisticated, and the links send you to what usually appear to be legitimate IRS or government websites. In reality, they are not. These sites will prompt you to divulge private information under the guise of the IRS requiring it, to offer a larger refund, or sometimes, ironically, to protect you from identity theft or loss of privacy.
What Can You Do to Avoid Falling Prey To One Of These Scams?
Always Be Suspicious of Emails. Remember, the IRS does NOT initiate communication with taxpayers through email, and requests that you forward all questionable emails to phishing@irs.gov.
In today's technological environment, electronic communication offers us tremendous speed and convenience. But it can also be used for unethical purposes by scammers. Most organizations have worked very hard to put strict privacy policies in place. As a result, government agencies and financial institutions will rarely, if ever, ask you to divulge personal information via email.
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