The IRS recently issued a warning about a new phishing scam that uses a web site — mimicking the IRS e-services online registration page, to get you to reveal your personal and financial information.
To prevent your information falling in the wrong hands, take note that the real IRS e-services page always includes the .gov extension at the end. The fake site looks similar to the real one but is reported to likely have a different ending on the URL – such as .com, .net or .org.
You should also know that the real IRS e-Services page is not for tax payers themselves – it’s for tax professionals who often must register or renew their information as well as communicate with the IRS. So, don’t be caught off guard by a site that asks for your information under the guise of a service like this.
Remember, as the .gov consumer alert explains, “The IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email to request personal or financial information. This includes any type of electronic communication, such as text messages and social media channels.”
And if a phony URL or email that acts like it is from the IRS does wind up crossing your path, you can help out by reporting it. Just forward it to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov, and then delete it from your inbox.
By having anti-virus protection and a 2-way firewall installed on your computer, you’ll also reduce the chances that cybercriminals will be able to steal any personal and financial information – including your social security number or other tax information.
Some security solutions, like the ones we offer at ZoneAlarm, can also help you keep tabs on your financial security by monitoring your credit and alerting you right away of any changes or suspicious activity that might occur.
For more info on this scam, click here.
It is hard to know if ZA extreme is doing its job. I am probably one of ZA’s oldest customers. I still get invaded by whatever gets by za, but I do not know if there is a way to structure ZA for complete safety.
I spend lots of time on the phone to IRS when doing my taxes, and since my zone alarm email protection is not perfect [or even close] I send lots of rec’d phishing stuff to the IRS.
Since I am a former fed [34 years] I can tell pretty well if any gov communication is real or not. But getting ZA to do good stuff has been more difficult in recent years. I’m sorry it was sold. All the company wants now is subscriptions — and I’m not sure checkpoint is any different than other software protection services — or better. I have about 15 years of ZA and it has decidedly deteriorated. And you can’t get the good help from them like it was in the past.
Will I get a company response?
Les, Please contact us via private message on our ZoneAlarm Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/zonealarmfirewall Thanks.
One of my clients (I do accounting and bookkeeping) received an email saying that his electronic payment of 941 taxes was rejected and to contact them. This was obviously phishing but my client almost went for it.
If someone is gullible enough to do any tax info/investigation in email deserves to be scammed.
The tried and proven process is to send thru US mail about 40 pounds of undated/unpostmarked/unregistered paper mail. That is just an attempt to get your attention – if you don’t respond (which you shouldn’t) they send you a certified letter and you have 30 days to respond. This is the only time you should respond to the IRS and make sure you send it certified return receipt. It is also best if you can put the certified # in the correspondence because the IRS tends to lose a lot of correspondence
The IRS is the terrorist wing of the Federal Government.
Yes, been quite a few of them arriving Email lately. I just delete them after checking the first one out.
There’s no such thing as being too cautious when dealing with potential identity theft – online or otherwise. Thank you for putting this valuable reminder out there