And Just When We Thought the IRS Phishing Scams Were Gone for the Year

All during tax season, we saw warnings about phishing attempts using the name of the IRS. April 15th has come and gone, but the "phishermen" are still using the IRS name to lure victims.

For those unfamiliar with phishing, it normally starts with a lure - such as a refund from the IRS - in the form of an e-mail directing you to "click" on a site. The site (which is also fake) then directs you to give up all sorts of personal information, which the "phishermen" use to commit "identity theft." In more sophisticated schemes - even going on the site - can lead to all sorts of cybernasties (crimeware) being injected into your system. The crimeware allows them to track your information on a more "permanent" basis.

Phishing is on the rise and according to the APWG (Anti Phishing Working Group), May set a all-time record for phishing attempts.

Here is an interesting story from KUTV in Salt Lake City:

Tax season is over but some people are still getting notifications that they have a refund coming from the IRS. There are all types of so-called phishing schemes out there. And we found a new one today. Here is what the email looks like: Click Here.

It claims to be from the internal revenue service. It says you have a refund coming, just go to a website and fill out the refund request. And look at this: Click Here.

For the full story from KUTV: Click Here.

If you spot one of these attempts, you can forward it to the good folks at PIRT (Phishing Incident Reporting and Termination Squad) - who will take action to shut the bad guys down.

And last, but not least; you can call the IRS directly at 800-829-1040 to verify any communications, or e-mail the "suspected" phish to phishing@irs.gov. The IRS also has some pretty good information on their website on how to avoid falling for scam involving your taxes.

You can also report the activity to the APWG, which is mentioned above.