Look Out For ‘Stimulus’ Scam
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- January
- 27
All this talk about federal bailouts and stimulus packages may be a cause for greed. Be warned. I just got the following e-mail at work. It’s a total scam. Read it:
After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that
you are eligible to receive a Stimulus Payment.
Please submit the Stimulus Payment Online Form in order to process it.
A Stimulus Payment can be delayed for a variety of reasons.
For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline.
To submit your Stimulus Payment form, please download the attached document.
Note: If filing or preparation fees were deducted from your 2007 Refund or you
received a refund anticipation loan, you will be receiving a check instead of a
direct deposit.
Regards,
Internal Revenue Service
The message then directs you to a phony-baloney Internal Revenue Service site that asks for certain critical information, i.e. Social Security number, that is essential to identity theft. This particular scam is already known by the IRS—that is to say, the real IRS—which warns that anyone who gets sucked in will quickly find their savings accounts wiped out. Anyone getting the pfishing e-mail should report it to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov
“In reality, taxpayers do not have to fill out a separate form to get a stimulus payment or have it directly deposited,” The IRS says. “All they had to do was file a tax return and include direct deposit information on the return.”
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, January 27th, 2009 at 1:49 pm by Phil Reisman.
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Phil Reisman is a veteran journalist and native of Westchester County. He began his career in 1977 as the head copy boy of a startup New York City newspaper that quickly went belly up. Reisman was not to blame for the newspaper's failure, or so he claims.
Haha nice, is there a section to follow the RSS feed