In one scheme, victims receive an email that appears to be from the IRS. The email contains links to a non-IRS Internet Web page that asks for personal and financial information. Such information could be used to steal the respondent's identity and get access to sensitive financial data or accounts. 

 

The IRS does not request sensitive personal or financial data by email.

 

The IRS has seen isolated instances of the scam that targets the families of those serving in the Armed Forces. The IRS warns consumers to beware of any variation of a scenario in which a telephone caller posing as an IRS employee tells a family member that he is entitled to a $4,000 refund because his relative is in the Armed Forces and then requests a credit card number to cover a $42 fee for postage. The scammer provides an actual IRS toll-free number as the call back number in order to make the call seem legitimate. However, the scammer then makes numerous unauthorized purchases with the victim's credit card number.

 

Both of these schemes are being reviewed by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, which is authorized to investigate the misuse of the IRS name, insignia, seals and symbols.

 

"Tax season may be over, but tax scams continue," said IRS Commissioner Mark Everson.  "These types of shameless schemes hold out the allure of easy money. The IRS warns taxpayers to be on the lookout for these schemes. And we urge taxpayers to remember that the IRS does not charge for refunds or solicit credit card information."