Another Email Scam

[chiang mai]

Over the past few years I've received all the scam email variants and most of them are easily recognizable. But I found this one interesting because it comes from appears to be a legit US government email address and the subject, albeit a little late, is compelling. There is an attachment to the email which presumably requests lots of personal and bank account data, need less to say I haven't opened it. Just wondering if anyone else has received this yet, it makes a refreshing change from the ones that start, "May God be with you my dear ...".

"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 document attached to your email.

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"

[noahvail]

Over the past few years I've received all the scam email variants and most of them are easily recognizable. But I found this one interesting because it comes from appears to be a legit US government email address and the subject, albeit a little late, is compelling. There is an attachment to the email which presumably requests lots of personal and bank account data, need less to say I haven't opened it. Just wondering if anyone else has received this yet, it makes a refreshing change from the ones that start, "May God be with you my dear ...".

"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 document attached to your email.

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"

Wow - that's a really great phishing scam! I got the stimulus payment last year (after not having to file for some years ), and they were all to have been distributed by last November, if memory serves. Just as well you didn't click on the attachment, even if your antivirus program might have let it through - y'know, y'never know . And thanks for the heads-up!

[Owain]

You should never open emails from people you do not know.

[chiang mai]

You should never open emails from people you do not know.

With an email address of Internal Revenue Service "taxrefund [at] irs.gov", would you have opened the email?

Edited January 27, 2009 by soundman

[Owain]

You should never open emails from people you do not know.

With an email address of Internal Revenue Service "taxrefund [at] irs.gov", would you have opened the email?

No but then again I am not an American.

[slackula]

Here, this might help

[chiang mai]

You should never open emails from people you do not know.

With an email address of Internal Revenue Service "taxrefund [at] irs.gov", would you have opened the email?

No but then again I am not an American.

And neither am I.

[endure]

You should never open emails from people you do not know.

With an email address of Internal Revenue Service "taxrefund [at] irs.gov", would you have opened the email?

No. I don't know about the way that the IRS works but HMRC (the UK equivalent) always uses snailmail to contact its clients.

[bonobo]

I was having problems using the Nigerian government website to get my visa, so I e-mailed family members back in the US to ask them to try for me.  I had the subject lien something like "Problems with Nigerian Visa." When no one got back to me, I called my brother, and he told me no one in my family would open the e-mail due to the reference to Nigeria! They all thought it had to be a scam.

[hhgz]

"With an email address of Internal Revenue Service "taxrefund [at] irs.gov", would you have opened the email?"

The IRS does not contact people through email.

[chiang mai]

Before everyone gets carried away with this let me just say that I had no idea (until now) how the US or UK tax authorities contact their respective tax payers and that is the exact point of posting the scam email in the first place. People know what they know and one suspects there are bunches of people out there who simply didn't know, now hopefully they do.