As if the current tax system in the US is not a big enough scam, there are now a couple of Internet tax related scams going around that aim to take even more of your money.
The first looks like it is coming from the IRS Criminal Investigation unit. From the IRS alert:
The e-mail purporting to be from IRS Criminal Investigation falsely states that the person is under a criminal probe for submitting a false tax return to the California Franchise Tax Board. 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 Trojan Horse that can take over the person’s computer hard drive and allow someone to have remote access to the computer.
The second scam goes like this:
In another recent scam, consumers have received a "Tax Avoidance Investigation" e-mail claiming to come from the IRS' "Fraud Department" in which the recipient is asked to complete an "investigation form," for which there is a link contained in the e-mail, because of possible fraud that the recipient committed. It is believed that clicking on the link may activate a Trojan Horse.
The IRS offers this sage advice: “not to click the link in the e-mail or open the attachment.”
It is only official if it comes as an official notice in the mail -- or if you are greeted at your front door by IRS agents with automatic weapons drawn wearing full body armor. The IRS does not send out e-mails to tax payers.
(Thanks to KraftCPA for passing this along).
