Wiz Feinberg
From:
Mid-Michigan, USA
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Posted 22 Feb 2008 4:21 pm |
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Since the Federal Government passed legislation that will be mailing free money to all taxpayers, fraud artists have jumped on the rebate bandwagon. Without going into specifics about this program, it basically says that all people who earn at least $3000 and no more than $75,000, and file a tax return this year, will be getting a check from the Government, in some amount starting at $300 or $600, in addition to any other refunds they may have coming, but as a separate mailing. That's the nuts and bolts. The checks will be mailed automatically, to all people filing returns and meeting the financial guidelines. There is nothing else you are required to submit to get this money. The checks will go out beginning in May, and will continue throughout the summer.
Fraudsters have already picked up on this program and are not only emailing scam attempts, but also phoning prospective victims, trying to get them to hand over their banking details. They use the bait that by giving the "agent" your bank account - your money will be direct deposited much sooner than the check would arrive in the mail. Anybody who falls for this ploy, and these people are very good at what they do, will have all of the money in those accounts emptied, sometimes within minutes of the phone call.
This is the nature of all financial phishing scams. Once scammed, all of the money is transferred to an offshore account, before the victim has a chance to think about it and alert their bank.
There is also another IRS scam making the rounds. This one claims that due to a mistake in accounting, the IRS owes you some small-ish amount of money; like 140, 200, etc, dollars, and to claim it all you need to do is click on the button in the email and fill in all the financial details on the landing page. Those details include your social security number, date of birth, Mother's maiden name, bank account numbers and routing numbers, and more. Once inputted and submitted the criminals running this phishing scam will have not only all of the money in your accounts, but also your identity. They will sell this information to the highest bidder. Those people will use it to open new charge accounts and get credit cards and loans, all in your legal name, all of which you may be liable for.
There is a place to report at least the scams about the rebate checks, on the IRS website, at: http://www.irs.gov/ . This applies to reporting both phone and email scam attempts. You should also contact your local police, or Attorney General, about telephone scam attempts, as soon as you hang up on the perp. Be aware that these fraudsters are very persistent and may call back if you brush them off. Alerting the local authorities may help prevent somebody in your community from getting scammed.
Other phishing scams should be reported to the abuse department at the website being misrepresented in the scam. You can also help by becoming a free reporting member of SpamCop - at www.spamcop.net
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"Wiz" Feinberg, Moderator SGF Computers Forum
Security Consultant
Twitter: @Wizcrafts
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