Scam Watch

The Pitch: Get your refund!

The Scam: An e-mail purporting to be from the Internal Revenue Service made the rounds this tax season, as it did last year. One of the current versions promises a refund of $134.80 (the amount probably will vary as the scam continues). All you have to do is provide your credit or debit card number for direct deposit. It’s a ploy to get your account numbers. In a warning posted on the IRS website, the agency says it “does not send unsolicited e-mail about tax account matters.”

More Tax Scams: The agency warns about several variations on the scams, including an e-mail announcing that a person is about to be audited. This is “a technique calculated to get almost anyone’s attention,” the agency says. Well, yes. Another e-mail scam sent to businesses and accountants announces supposed tax law changes. But downloads contained in these e-mails can contain malicious code that could allow a sender to dig into information stored on the victim’s computer.

What To Do: Suspicious e-mails can be forwarded to phishing@irs.gov.

Further Information: The agency updates scam warnings at www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=155682,00.html