 What's
the worst kind of "phishing" expedition you can imagine?
I asked myself that question and came up with this answer: "the one that
affects me" and the latest one I've run across certainly affects me. In fact, it
affects everybody who pays taxes and who sometimes anticipate a refund.
Phishing, for those of you who may be new to the Internet, is sort of like
fishing. Instead of a net or line cast into the water to see what bites, the
scammer sends E-mail messages by the thousands hoping that some recipients will
bite. It doesn't take many to be profitable.
Usually, it involves familiar logos and companies, like Citibank or PayPal.
The web sites look very much like the real web sites of those institutions. Once
Internet users enter, they are often urged to "confirm" information that was
supposedly lost, misplaced or moved to make it more secure.
Most of them I've run across were easy enough to rule out because I don't
have a PayPal account, and don't have an account at the many banks the scammers
come up with.
However, this one got my attention. It seemed to be from the Internal Revenue
Service and the opening sentence was an attention getter.
"You filed your tax return and you're expecting a refund. You have just one
question and you want the answer now - Where's My Refund?"
Then it directed me to their secure web site to find out if the IRS received
my return and whether a refund was processed and sent to me. Actually, it was
probably a misfire, not intended to be sent this early as I'm thinking most of
us just recently got our 2005 tax statements, and haven't even filed much less
be getting worried about a refund. But wanting to find out a little more, I
continued reading.
It really sounded authentic and certainly seemed to have my welfare in mind
noting that:
"New program enhancements allow you to begin a refund trace online if you
have not received your check within 28 days from the original IRS mailing date.
Some of you will also be able to correct or change your mailing address within
this application if your check was returned to us as undelivered by the U.S.
Postal Service. "Where's My Refund?" will prompt you when these features are
available for your situation."
They were also up front in telling me that to get my refund status, I would
need to provide the following information as shown on my return return:
- First and last name
- Social Security Number (or IRS Individual Taxpayer Identification
Number)
- Credit Card Information
As to that question: Where's My Refund? By putting my cursor on this
clickable site, I could see that the first words had nothing to do with an IRS
site. It comes across as comunidadchristianaintl.org/libreriacci/catalog/images.www4.irs.gov/index.html
but when it opened, it was similar to the real IRS web site. There was a place
to put in my last and first name. I added a fictitious name and hit submit.
Despite the fact that I used a very common name, almost instantly it came back
saying my refund was calculated at $346.74.
So I tried it again using my own name which, too, is quite common and again
the speed was amazing but with the same sum of $346.74; not too large a sum that
it would cause an alarm to sound in your brain, but enough to make it worthwhile
for most people who think it's legitimate and think they may have a refund
coming.
But, then they wanted some more information including my Social Security
Number, address, E-mail address, credit card number, expiration date, and even
an ATM PIN. Certainly, that's enough information for them to drain my bank
account as well as run up some bills on my credit card. I passed on that one.
Sometimes in the future, if you feel like you have a refund coming and it's
been quite a while since you filed your return, you really can check on your
refund. Do it by going to the real IRS web site, though, and that's at
www.irs.gov . Type it in
yourself so you're sure you're not being linked to another site.
Reprinted from the February 2006 edition of the Air Force Retiree News
Service
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