Watch out for Email Scams!
Have you received an email from the Internal Revenue Service? Does it sound legitimate? No matter what the email says, remember this at all times: the IRS does not and never has communicated with taxpayers via email. This is not set to change anytime in the future, either. Simply put, if you receive an email from somebody claiming to be the IRS it is a scam. You should never even open an email that is supposedly from the IRS.
Most email scams that come from those claiming to be with the IRS ask for personal information such as your bank account number, credit card number, password for an online account, etc. The scammer is hunting for people who are naïve enough to give out this information because they don’t want to get in hot water with the IRS. Believe it or not, thousands of people fall for these scams every year. You don’t want to be next.
If you do open an email you should never click on any links. It is one thing to read what the email says, but clicking through could lead to malicious software being sent to your computer in addition to many other problems.
IR-2007-109 from the IRS says: “The IRS does not send out unsolicited e-mails or ask for detailed personal and financial information. Additionally, the IRS never asks people for the PIN numbers, passwords or similar secret access information for their credit card, bank or other financial accounts.”
As you can see, the IRS makes it known that they will not communicate with you via email. If you receive an email from somebody claiming to be with the IRS chances are that it is a scam.
