Is the Irs Stealing From You?

Wouldn't it be the greatest of ironies if the IRS issued a public warning that they could be stealing from you? On the first week of July, 2008, it did happen and the IRS even showed a little bit of heart.

According to the Associated Press (AP), the warning issued by the IRS came in the form of a report stating that taxpayers reported almost 700 attempted incidents of identity theft in the months of May and June 2008. The report further states that the agency has received some 1,600 reports in all of 2008.

The attempts on identity theft came in the form of emails concerning tax refunds or this year's economic stimulus payments. As with most email scams, the recipient is instructed to supply personal information in order to ensure prompt payments.

Email scams, also known as phishing, represent the most common method being used by cyber criminals to steal people's sensitive information. These emails appear to come from reputable sources, some even with an official logo with some legalese thrown in.

The phishing email instructs the recipient to visit the sender's "official website", but in reality it is a server controlled by the cyber criminals made to appear like the reputable sender's official site. Once the victim starts to input personal information, the criminals capture the information and can now easily manipulate the victim's financial accounts.

There are variations to the IRS scam currently circulating. Some emails are targeted towards companies. The email instructs the companies to click on a link to download an IRS report on that particular company. Once the link is clicked, malicious software, or "malware", is downloaded. The malware can then take control of the victim's computer and give the cyber criminals remote access to the computer.

Unfortunately, most people are not aware of phishing scams or they probably do not take the problem seriously. They may have heard anecdotes from relatives and friends about how someone they know had their credit card or social security number stolen. Then they think that it could never happen to them.

It is no wonder that more than 79-million identities were stolen in the last twelve months alone. Once a person's identity is stolen, the road to recovery can only be described as a nightmare. Some victims have reported that it took them almost six years just to get their identity and good credit standing back in order.

By now, personal computer users should have a good antivirus program installed that also includes a firewall and email spam filter. A good protection suite should cost about US$60 and the license is good for one year. Enrolling in an identity theft protection program is also an option. The monthly fee is around US$10 and some even offer discounts for one-year payments made in advance.

What people should realize is that the IRS is just one of the many reputable institutions that cyber criminals use to cloak their activities. Many phishing emails also use companies like PayPal, eBay, Citibank, etc. People should know that as a matter of policy, these institutions never instruct their customer through email to provide their personal information through their website. The point is, when a recipient is naive enough to open an official looking email but in reality is a phishing email and follow the instructions inside, then the cyber criminals have succeeded in their nefarious plan.