o Phishing Scams Use Phones Instead of Fake Websites In a new twist, identity thieves are sending spam that warns victims that their credit union/bank account or PayPal accounts were supposedly compromised. However, unlike typical phishing emails, there is no website address in these phishing messages. Instead, the victim is urged to call a phone number to verify account details.
• Did You Know? Are you receiving e-mails from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) saying they’re eligible for a tax refund? Last month, Treasury officials received about 1,300 reports of bogus e-mails trying to trick taxpayers into divulging personal information, adding up to more than 8,000 reports since November 2005. The e-mail contains a link that sends viewers to a tax-refund request form. If someone fills it out, they likely will become a victim of identity theft.
IRS officials warn that they'll never send out unsolicited e-mails asking for personal information, passwords, or account numbers. Additionally, the IRS never asks people for the PIN numbers, passwords or similar secret access information for their credit card, bank or other financial accounts.
Other scams claiming to come from the IRS, tell recipients that they are due a federal tax refund, and direct them to a Web site that appears to be a genuine IRS site. The bogus sites contain forms or interactive Web pages similar to IRS forms or Web pages but which have been modified to request detailed personal and financial information from the e-mail recipients.
Take this opportunity to educate your members about his scam along with the many other phishing scams that continue to pop up. Visit the following sites for more information on Phishing and ID Theft:
http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/
http://onguardonline.gov/phishing.html
Identity theft scams