Wednesday, September 8, 2010

IRS Alerts Taxpayers to EFTPS Fraud Scheme

The IRS has issued a Problem Alert to advise taxpayers of a scheme targeting users of the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS). The scam begins with an e-mail telling the taxpayer the a tax payment has been rejected. The e-mail recipient is directed to a website for "additional information," but in fact that website contains malware that can potentially infect computers.

The IRS emphasizes that it does not initiate e-mail communications with taxpayers. Anyone who receives a message purporting to be from the IRS or EFTPS should:

(1) Not reply to the sender, open any links included in the email, or submit any information; and

(2) Report this, or other "phishing" e-mail scams or false IRS websites, to the IRS by forwarding the information to phishing@irs.gov.

[IRS Website, Problem Alerts –EFTPS Scam, 8/20/10].

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