WASHINGTON — The Internal
Revenue Service today warned taxpayers and tax professionals of a new
email scam targeting Hotmail users that is being used to steal personal
and financial information.
The phishing email subject
line reads: “Internal Revenue Service Email No. XXXX | We’re processing
your request soon | TXXXXXX-XXXXXXXX”. The email leads taxpayers to
sign in to a fake Microsoft page and then asks for personal and
financial information.
The IRS has received over
900 complaints about this new phishing scheme that seems to exclusively
target Hotmail users. The suspect websites associated with this scam
have been shut down, but taxpayers should be on the lookout for similar
schemes.
Individuals who receive unsolicited emails claiming to be from the IRS should forward it to phishing@irs.gov
and then delete it. It is important to keep in mind the IRS generally
does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email to request personal or
financial information. For more information, visit the “Tax Scams and
Consumer Alerts” page on IRS.gov.
The IRS reminds tax professionals
to be aware of phishing emails, free offers and other common tricks by
scammers. Tax professionals who have data breaches should contact the
IRS immediately through their Stakeholder Liaison. See Data Theft Information for Tax Professionals.
