IRS Alerting Taxpayers About New E-Mail Scam - The Internal Revenue Service has alerted taxpayers to a new e-mail scam intended to fool people into believing they are under investigation by the agency’s Criminal Investigation division. The e-mail falsely states that the person is under a criminal probe for submitting a false tax return. The e-mail seeks to entice people to click on a link or open an attachment to learn more information about the complaint against them. The IRS warned people that the e-mail link and attachment is a virus (Trojan Horse) that can take over the person’s computer hard drive and allow someone to have remote access to the computer. The IRS urged people not to click the link in the e-mail or open the attachment. The email appears aimed at business taxpayers as well as individual taxpayers. The IRS does not send out unsolicited e-mails or ask for detailed personal and financial information. Additionally, the IRS never asks people for the PIN numbers, passwords or similar secret access information for their credit card, bank or other financial accounts. Recipients of questionable e-mails claiming to come from the IRS should not open any attachments or click on any links contained in the e-mails. Instead, they should forward the e-mails to phishing@irs.gov. Other fraudulent e-mail scams try to entice taxpayers to click their way to a fake IRS Web site and ask for bank account numbers. Another widespread e-mail tells taxpayers the IRS is holding a refund, often $63.80, for them and seeks financial account information. Still another email claims the IRS’s ‘anti-fraud commission’ is investigating their tax returns.
I received that same warning from the IRS yesterday. I would like to know what happens to the scammers when they get caught. Just to repeat:
They are most likely outside our jurisdiction. Depending on what country they are located in depends on the support we have. I would not expect a lot as people in this country would hide and protect them due to the government agency involved much less a foreign country
