Internet Scam: IRS Intimidation Scam

This email is a variation of a scam being sent to many target demographics, pretending like something illegal has taken place and you either need to pay a fee upfront to fix it, or give up a lot of personal information to have it investigated or to get more information on it.

In some variations, the scammers just go for the money and pretend the person has been caught with pornography on their computer. They don't care about all the people receiving the fake alert who do not have pornography on their computers, they are just targeting those that do - and these are people who won't report the alert and probably just pay the fee to be left alone... a scammer's "sweet spot".

But people are afraid of their taxes and the IRS, so this particular email is targeted at CPAs and a slightly different version is targeted towards taxpayers.

"Valued accountant officer,

 

We have received a complaint about your recent involvement in income tax refund fraud on behalf of one of your employers. According to AICPA Bylaw Section 765 your Certified Public Accountant status can be cancelled in case of the occurrence of filing of a false or fraudulent income tax return on the member's or a client's behalf.

 

Please find the complaint below and respond to it within 14 days. The failure to respond within this period will result in suspension of your CPA license."

This email then also contains an attachment called complaint.doc. Do NOT open it! It will install malware on your computer and give you all kinds of problems!

If you or your client receives any type of scam email looking like it might come from the IRS:

• Do not open any attachments
• Do not click on any links within the email
• Do not reply to the email
• Forward the email, as is, to phishing@irs.gov
• Then delete the email