Phishing bait: Notice from the IRS indicating the recipient is eligible for a tax refund or stimulus payment.
Examples:
[Collected via e-mail, January 2008]
After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a Stimulus Payment.
Please submit the Stimulus Payment Online Form in order to process it.
A Stimulus Payment can be delayed for a variety of reasons.
For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.
To submit your Stimulus Payment form, please download the document attached to your email.
Note: If filing or preparation fees were deducted from your 2007 Refund or you received a refund anticipation loan, you will be receiving a check instead of a direct deposit.
Regards,
Internal Revenue Service
stimulus.payment@irs.gov
[Collected via e-mail, August 2007]
From: "Internal Revenue Service"
Subject: IRS Notification - Fiscal Activity
Date: Sun, 26 Aug 2007 23:57:35 +0300
After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $268.32.
Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 6-9 days in order to process it.
A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons. For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.
To access the form for your tax refund, please click here
Regards,
Internal Revenue Service
© Copyright 2007, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved.
[Collected via e-mail, February 2009]
Re: US Stimulus Check Information
--------------------------------------------------------------------
If you're one of the millions of Americans struggling in today's economy, help is available.
You've been chosen for the chance to get a US Stimulus Check based on your annual income level. (Participation required. See below for details.)
Refer to the chart below to determine the amount of money you can receive:
--------------------------------------------------------------------
$0 - $35,000........................$709 US Stimulus Check
--------------------------------------------------------------------
$35,000 - $70,000.................$615 US Stimulus Check
--------------------------------------------------------------------
$70,000+.............................$504 US Stimulus Check
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Make your selection here, then follow the instructions on our website before this offer expires.
[Collected via e-mail, July 2009]
Tax Refund Notification
After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity, we have determined that you are eligible to receive tax refund of 488.50 GBP.
You are require to submit the tax refund request using the tax refund reference below and allow up 6-9 working days in order to process it
[link elided]
Note : A refund can be delayed for different reasons, for example submitting invalid records or applying after deadline.
we apologise for any inconveniences and thank you for your co-operation.
Yours Sincerely
HM Revenue & Customs
Origins: Notices purporting to come from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) make good
phishing bait for a number of reasons:
- Notices from institutions of the federal government (especially an agency with the ominous reputation of the IRS) grab people's attention.
- Unlike other phishing schemes that emulate mailings from various private financial institutions (e.g., Bank of America) and are therefore easily recognized as phony by many recipients (because they do no business with those companies), a forged IRS notice has the potential to take in a much larger pool of victims, as most adult U.S. residents have dealings with that agency.
- Many people find the federal income tax filing process complicated and confusing, so the idea that they might have unclaimed refunds or payments waiting for them to claim seems plausible.
An August 2007 mass phish
e-mailing took advantage of those points, spamming millions of Internet users with phony notices
that advised recipients they were eligible to receive tax refunds (of amounts such as $109.30 or $268.32) and invited them to click on a link that took them to a form through which they could claim those refunds. Of course, the link included in the messages didn't actually send users to the genuine IRS web site; it redirected claimants to an imposter site that instructed them to enter sensitive personal information (e.g., Social Security number and debit card number) in order to "deposit" their refunds. Similarly, January 2009 versions redirected claimants to an imposter site with a form for them to fill out in order to claim stimulus payments.
The IRS never offers refunds through e-mail or sends out unsolicited
e-mails to taxpayers. When the IRS needs to contact a taxpayer, it sends notice via
U.S. Mail, and every such notice includes a telephone number that the recipient can call for confirmation. Should you need to visit the IRS web site for any reason, go there directly (by entering the
www.irs.gov URL into your web browser) rather than following links in
e-mail messages.
The
IRS says about such
e-mails that:
The IRS does not initiate taxpayer communications through e-mail. In addition, the IRS does not request detailed personal information through e-mail or ask taxpayers for the PIN numbers, passwords or similar secret access information for their credit card, bank or other financial accounts.
Do not open any attachments to questionable e-mails, which may contain malicious code that will infect your computer. Please be advised that the IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers via e-mails.
The hyperlink above contains information about how to report phishing
e-mails purporting to originate with the IRS.
Last updated: 18 July 2009
The URL for this page is http://www.snopes.com/fraud/phishing/irsrefund.asp
Urban Legends Reference Pages © 1995-2009 by Barbara and David P. Mikkelson.
This material may not be reproduced without permission.
snopes and the snopes.com logo are registered service marks of snopes.com.
