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.
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!"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."
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
Okay, this one I received this morning does not fall under the IRS "threat" scam described above (which really has become one of the most common scams lately, meaning scammers are making a bundle on it). This email pretends to be from the IRS but that a "tax transaction" was denied, and even if you made no such transaction lately, it's the IRS and you are going to want to click on that link just to see what is up. And that is what the scammer is counting on. If you mouse over the link withOUT clicking on it, you'll see the destination is a bogus website set up to look like the IRS and get you to give up your log in information as well as other sensitive information like your bank account, social security number, credit card number.
ReplyDeleteDON'T CLICK ON LINKS IN SUSPICIOUS EMAILS!!!
Sorry about the shouting (smiling), I prefer to think of it as emphasis. Okay, here is the email (formatting bad on purpose - that's how they did it):
Return-path: [sacrilegiouspgq6@bmatter.com]
Received: from [122.255.42.170] (port=52964)
Received: from (192.168.1.184) by bmatter.com (122.255.42.170)
Message-ID: [50574202.307050@bmatter.com]
From: Internal Revenue Service [certifyvh@barronheating.com]
Subject: IRS report of rejected tax transaction
IRS payment failure
Your State Tax
regular
transaction (ID: 1668197863215), recently
ordered for processing from your
checking account was
not approved by your banking
institution.
Not Accepted Tax transaction
Tax Transaction ID: 1668197863215
Cancellation ReasonSee details in the report below
State Tax Transaction Report
tax_report_1668197863215.doc
(Microsoft Word Document)
(note: which really links to: http://tg019.napsea.net/rjctdtrns.html)
Internal Revenue Service P.O. Box 265 Edmond 91505 VA