Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

Phishing scam targets taxpayers

|
|
 
  
Published: Feb. 16, 2009 at 10:29 PM

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- U.S. officials say scammers are pretending to be the Internal Revenue Service to get taxpayers' financial information by fax.

The Philadelphia Inquirer reported Monday that the scam begins with an e-mail pretending to be from the IRS. It asks the recipient to fill out an attached form and fax it back to a phone number along with a copy of a passport or driver's license.

The form includes fields for the recipient's Social Security number and bank account information, the newspaper reported.

"To be honest with you, that's pretty clever," said IRS spokesman David Stewart. "They're using our very own forms on the attachments. ... We've always said don't reply but we never said don't fax anybody."

The IRS never e-mails requests for private information, Stewart said.

"We're not going to ask for Social Security numbers, bank accounts, PINs and passwords. That's just not going to happen," he said.

Topics: David Stewart
© 2009 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
The Tibetan Moniam Festival in China Super Bowl XLVI ticker tape victory parade The making of the Oscars
The Chicago Auto Show The Most Desirable Women of 2012 Tu Bishvat Migron settlement
Additional Top News Stories
1 of 25
Meryl Streep and Colin Firth attend the "BAFTA" ceremony in London
View Caption
fark
Photoshop this striking side shot
You gotta ask yourself what kind of management a motel has it when a room there contains a body...
Twins in yearlong quarantine. No, they don't want any Doublemint gum
The Marines are apparently doing things we think only happen in Rambo movies
Remember back in the day when you had to walk to school, barefoot, uphill both ways, in the snow?...
Time to load up on beer, milk, bread and beer, north Atlanta is in for massive blizzard with up...