Public Info
IRS Phishing Scam
The Bayfield County Sheriff’s Office recently received its first Internal Revenue Service phishing scam complaint for the 2011 tax season. A county resident received an official looking email claiming to be notification from the I.R.S. regarding a past tax refund overpayment. The email requested the individual return the overpaid funds to an out of state bank account. This resident made the right decision in notifying the authorities to question the validity of that email. A brief inquiry was made to confirm the scam and the resident avoided becoming the victim of a phishing crime.
The Bayfield County Sheriff’s Office would like to take this opportunity to alert residents of the ever-present phishing scam and notify citizens to be especially wary during tax season. The official IRS website, http://www.irs.gov/index.html, states that the I.R.S. does not initiate taxpayer communications through e-mail. All unsolicited e-mail claiming to be from either the IRS or any other IRS-related components such as EFTPS, should be reported to phishing@irs.gov.
Another handy link with information on how to avoid cyber-crime is http://www.ic3.gov/default.aspx, a site maintained by the Federal Bureau of Investigations, the National White Collar Crime Center and the Bureau of Justice Assistance. Phishing continues to be a popular method of scamming citizens because of its effectiveness. Educating yourself against the dangers of these scams can keep your money in your pocket.
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