Beware of Tax Refund Scams

Tax season is upon us and the scam artists are once again looking for a way to dupe unsuspecting individuals to provide confidential information.  Beware of emails purporting to be from the IRS claiming you have a refund. The IRS does not initiate taxpayer communications through e-mail. If you receive an e-mail claiming to be from the IRS or directing you to an IRS site, you should take the following actions:

• Do not reply.
• Do not open any attachments. Attachments may contain malicious code that will infect your computer.
• Do not click on any links. If you clicked on links in a suspicious e-mail or phishing Web site and entered confidential information, visit the IRS Identity Theft page.

For more information or to report receiving email purporting to be from the IRS, go to:  http://www.irs.gov/privacy/article/0,,id=179820,00.html?portlet=1

Source: http://www.msisac.org/daily-tips/