US Internal Revenue Service issues a warning about phishing

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued a security warning to remind taxpayers and tax practitioners of a fraudulent IRS fraud. IRS has received reports from multiple victims this week, describing a phishing email titled “Automatic Income Tax Reminder” or “Electronic Tax Return Reminder.” This phishing email is very realistic and its address will be displayed as the official IRS email address.

“Phishing warning”by Christiaan Colen is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

According to IRS, such emails usually come with an attachment that contains malware, which is displayed as a taxpayer’s refund, electronic return or tax account. In addition, the body of the message will also be written with “temporary password” or “one-time password” that purports to grant access to the files. After the victim enters the “password” as instructed, the malware in the attachment is automatically downloaded to their device to steal sensitive information.

IRS staff said that IRS will not send emails about tax refunds or other financial information and remind all taxpayers or practitioners to be vigilant. It is reported that in the past few years, the IRS has issued similar warnings several times.

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Via: Forbes