What To Do If IRS Offers You $80 Via E-mail

The IRS today (IR-2007-148) warned taxpayers to be alert to an e-mail scam promising $80 to participate in an IRS customer satisfaction survey:

An unsuspecting taxpayer receives an unsolicited e-mail that appears to come from the IRS. The e-mail notifies the recipient that he or she has been randomly selected to participate in a survey. In return, the IRS will credit $80 to the taxpayer’s account.  The taxpayer is asked to click on a URL linking to an online “Member Satisfaction Survey.” There are references to the IRS in the “from” line and the “subject” line of the e-mail. The link to the survey and a copyright statement at the bottom of the e-mail also reference the IRS. The survey form features the IRS logo. ...

In addition to standard customer satisfaction survey questions, the survey requests the name and phone number of the participant and also asks for credit card information. Once the fraudsters have a name and phone number, they will presumably call the participant and attempt to retrieve other financial information. The apparent objectives of this scam are to use the participant’s name and financial data to withdraw funds from the taxpayer’s bank account, run up charges on a credit card, or take out loans in the taxpayer’s name.

For more information on these kinds of scams, see:

• IRS Warns Taxpayers of New E-mail Scams
• Suspicious e-Mails and Identity Theft