Being that it is tax season we are once again seeing a flood of scam emails purporting to be from either the IRS (for Americans) and the Canada Revenue Agency for Canadians. This noted email is targeting Americans.
This fake Internal Revenue Service email claims to be notifying you of your tax return amount and in order to claim your return funds you need to visit a website. This is the normal operating procedure for these scammers. The website you are taken to is a hacked website with a form meant to steal your personal details for further use by the scammer later – or even resale on shady websites to other scammers! It also contains a poorly constructed image logo for the IRS.
The email as sent to us is noted below. If you receive any emails like this just delete them and NEVER visit the links contained within them. The compromised websites often feature drive-by malware installations to further steal your personal information or to use your computer for spamming, hacking and other criminal activities.
The ‘from’ email address has been forged to appear to be from the IRS. It has actually been sent from 178.123.73.69 which is located in Belarus – a location noted for these types of scams as the government just doesn’t seem to care nor ever prosecute those behind these scams. The hacked website being used to facilitate this crime is from Italy and the owners probably have no idea that their website and server are being used for this purpose.
Having calculated your annual fiscal activity we have found out that you are eligible to obtain a tax refund of $229.
You may file the tax refund request and give us 3-9 days in order to process it.A refund can be hindered for many different reasons.
E.g., sending incorrect information or applying after a deadline.To get information about your tax refund please click here.
Faithfully yours,
Tax Refund Department
Internal Revenue Service
The IRS and the CRA never use email to notify you of your return and ask you to fill in forms in this manner. If you have filled in a form like this you need to contact your local police department and bank immediately and let them know exactly what has happened.