The Internal Revenue Service has warned the public of an email scam. The email informs the consumer that they are eligible for a tax refund and asks for consumer’s personal information.


The Internal Revenue Service has warned the public of an email scam. The email informs the consumer that they are eligible for a tax refund and directs them to a webpage which asks for personal information such as social security number and credit card details.

The information that is obtained is used to buy products from the consumer’s credit cards, apply for new credit cards and loans and even file for fraudulent tax returns.

The phishing email claims to be from taxrefunds@irs.gov. The email informs the consumer that they are eligible for a tax refund for a particular amount. To fill the form to claim the tax refund, consumers are requested to click on a link given in the email which directs them to a page asking for the consumer’s personal information.

“The IRS does not ask for personal identifying or financial information via unsolicited e-mail. Additionally, taxpayers do not have to complete a special form to obtain a refund.
If you receive an unsolicited e-mail purporting to be from the IRS, take the following steps:

Do not open any attachments to the e-mail, in case they contain malicious code that will infect your computer.
Contact the IRS at 1-800-829-1040 to determine whether the IRS is trying to contact you about a tax refund.” [Source]

To learn more about such phishing schemes related to the IRS, Source.

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