It’s that time of year. IRS emails are hitting our IN boxes. We have to be suspicious, because they’re really phishing/fishing for information to steal our money or identity.
The “From” address may or may not alert you. I just got one, with IRS logos, from “IRS-team<[email protected]>”–a dead give-away. Sometimes that non-IRS part won’t appear, but you may be able to make it appear by hovering over the address. It doesn’t matter, though, because the IRS won’t ever send you such an email out of the blue, or send you a text or contact you via social media. They like good old fashioned snail mail (of course!).
Protect yourself and help the IRS track down these scam artists. Here’s what the IRS says to do:
- Don’t reply.
- Don’t open any attachments. They can contain malicious code that may infect your computer or mobile phone.
- Don’t click on any links. Visit our identity protection page if you clicked on links in a suspicious email or website and entered confidential information.
- Forward the email as-is to us at [email protected]. Don’t forward scanned images because this removes valuable information.
- Delete the original email.
That same website gives instructions for when you receive a letter, fax, phone call, or text from (supposedly) the IRS or find yourself at a website claiming to be the IRS but you have your doubts.
Pass on this information to your friends and relatives.