Of all the crazy, desperate scam pitches that have been pouring into folks' computers these days, e-mails claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service are the easiest to detect.They're all bogus.
The latest ploy, revealed for the first time by the IRS on Friday, claims you can receive $80 for filling out an online customer satisfaction survey about the agency.
It may look official, but it's not, said IRS Special Agent and spokesman Dan Wardlaw, who is based in Vancouver.
The "customer satisfaction survey" e-mail is just the latest in a burgeoning global torrent of e-mail spam scams, and the senders are crooks looking for the same old thing they've been after for years.
They want your personal information - your Social Security number, bank-account and credit-card numbers, PIN numbers and so on.
Once you type in that information and hit send, it will go straight to criminals who will try to rip you off through identity theft, Wardlaw said.
Referring to the "customer satisfaction survey" Friday, Wardlaw said: "This is the first I've heard of it, today. As far as I know, we're on the front end of this, and we want to minimize the number of people victimized."
It's a snap to avoid becoming a victim of such spam e-mails, because the IRS doesn't operate that way.
"The IRS does not send out unsolicited e-mails asking for personal information," IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson said in a statement on the agency's Web site, www.irs.gov . "Don't be taken in by these criminals."
In June, the tax agency warned of a similar scheme in which crooked e-mailers sent spam referring to a "Tax Avoidance Investigation" from the IRS "Fraud Department." Those who received the e-mails were asked to fill out an "investigation form."
A similar e-mail claiming to be from the IRS Criminal Investigation Division told recipients they were under investigation for filing a false tax return.
Officials believe that folks who clicked on links in either of the "investigation" e-mails would activate a "Trojan Horse," which is computer operating language that would enable the crooks to gain remote access to the victims' computers.
A variety of methods
There are other scam e-mails posing as official IRS communications, the agency said:
One said a customer had filed a complaint against a company the recipient was associated with, and the IRS would be the arbitrator.
Another claimed recipients were due tax refunds.
Still another, rife with poor grammar and misspelling, claimed to be from the "IRS Antifraud Comission" (sic), which doesn't exist. It claimed someone tried to pay taxes with the recipient's credit card, and tried to steal from the recipient's bank account - and the sender would help the recipient recover the stolen money.
And there was one that targeted nonresidents of the U.S., containing a form called a "Certificate of Foreign Status of Beneficial Owner for United States Tax Withholding." Once again, the senders wanted account and PIN numbers, mother's maiden name, passport numbers and other personal information, IRS officials said.
Such schemes pretending to be from the IRS have been increasing, and sites where they were based have been identified in a long list of countries around the world, including in North America, South America, Asia, Europe and Australia, officials say.
When crooks try to commit identity theft online by posing as a legitimate business or agency - and typically using official-looking and easily copied logos in e-mails or pop-ups - it's called "phishing."
When you click on a link and send off your information, you've taken the bait. And anyone with a computer can get hooked.
The solution, officials say, is never to click on a link, or open an attachment, in an unsolicited and questionable e-mail.
If you want to deal online with your bank or another business or agency, type in what you know to be its true Web address yourself, and make contact directly.
Did you know?
Citizens who receive e-mails claiming to be from the IRS can send them to the agency for analysis and tracing.
You can learn more about how to protect yourself from suspicious e-mail online at tinyurl.com/2dmqz3 .
John Branton covers crime and law enforcement. He can be reached at 360-759-8012 or john.branton@columbian.com.
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