New Spam from the “IRS”
October 15, 2008
Has anyone else received this email? My spam filter is easily fooled, I guess:
From: Tax_Refund@IRS.gov
Subject: IRS : Tax refund value is $252.60
Date: October 15, 2008 9:46:17 AM PDT
To: undisclosed-recipients: ;
Reply-To: do-not-reply@IRS.govDear Applicant:
After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund under section 501(c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Tax refund value is $252.60.
Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 3-6 days in order to IWP the data received.▪ If you distribute funds to other organization, your records must show wether they are exempt under section 497 (c) (15). In cases where the recipient org. is not exempt under section 497 (c) (15), you must have evidence the funds will be used for section 497 (c) (15) purposes.
▪ If you distribute fund to individuals, you should keep case histories showing the recipient’s name and address; the purpose of the award; the maner of section; and the realtionship of the recipient to any of your officers, directors, trustees, members, or major contributors.
To access the form for your tax refund, please click here
This notification has been sent by the Internal Revenue Service,
a bureau of the Department of the Treasury.
Sincerely Yours,
Director, Exempt. Organization
Rulings and Agreements Letter
Internal Revenue ServiceNote:
▪ If you received this message in your SPAM/BULK folder, that is because of the restrictions implemented by your ISP
▪ For security reasons, we will record your ip address, the date and time.
▪ Deliberate wrong imputs are criminally pursued and indicted.© Copyright 2008, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A.
Obviously, inputting ANY data in the form they provided would be a mistake, as the IRS doesn’t typically evaluate your fiscal records nor contact YOU to give you a refund. File under: scam, spam and too good to be true.
It’s definitely a scam, and apparently an oldie but baddie:
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,
id=151065,00.html
The real IRS always initiates contact by snail mail. Also, I hope they spell in a better “maner.”
I agree with sabrina, and add that if I got an email like this, I would think, “When did I give the IRS my email address?”
Sadly, I bet a lot of people fall for this stuff.
Not sure why the link didn’t work (I added a line break, but it probably left a space in the URL). Trying again …
http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=151065,00.html
sabrina: Oh, I’d forgotten about that one. “Imputting” anything in most of the solicitation emails is generally a bad idea, I’ve found. 🙂
Thanks for the link!
paranoidasteroid: I think they rely on the fact that an e-presence is so normal to people nowadays that they don’t stop to question why the IRS would contact them via email at all.