According to the IRS, it receives thousands of reports each year from taxpayers who receive suspicious emails, phone calls, faxes or notices claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service. Many of these scams fraudulently use the Internal Revenue Service name or logo as a lure to make the communication more authentic and enticing. The goal of these scams––known as phishing––is to trick you into revealing personal and financial information. The scammers can then use that information––like your Social Security number, bank account or credit card numbers––to commit identity theft or steal your money.  Here are five things to know about phishing scams which involve supposed communications from the IRS:

1. The IRS does not ask for detailed personal and financial information like PIN numbers, passwords or similar secret access information for credit card, bank or other financial accounts.

2. The IRS does not initiate taxpayer communications through e-mail and won’t send a message about your tax account. If you receive an e-mail from someone claiming to be the IRS or directing you to an IRS site:

• Do not reply to the message.
• Do not open any attachments. Attachments may contain malicious code that will infect your computer.
• Do not click on any links. If you clicked on links in a suspicious e-mail or phishing website and entered confidential information, visit the IRS website and enter the search term “identity theft” for more information and resources to help.

3. The address of the official IRS website is http://www.IRS.gov. Do not be confused or misled by sites claiming to be the IRS but ending in .com, .net, .org or other designations instead of .gov. If you discover a website that claims to be the IRS but you suspect it is bogus, do not provide any personal information on the suspicious site and report it to the IRS.

4. If you receive a phone call, fax or letter in the mail from an individual claiming to be from the IRS but you suspect they are not an IRS employee, you should contact the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 to determine if the IRS has a legitimate need to contact you. Report any bogus correspondence.

5. You can help shut down these schemes and prevent others from being victimized. Details on how to report specific types of scams and what to do if you’ve been victimized are available at http://www.IRS.gov, keyword “phishing.”

The IRS also has additional information at the following link:  Protect your personal information! The IRS does not initiate taxpayer communications through e-mail; Suspicious e-Mails and Identity Theft.

For more information, call Hertsel Shadian, Attorney at Law, LLC at (503) 352-6985.  Please also forward this article to others to help prevent such phishing scams.