I grabbed this clip from the United States Computer Emergency Readiness Team (US-CERT) that I feel is of great importance. Do Not; and I repeat Do Not respond to or click on any links in email that is requesting personal information, no matter the source.
In this case, the phlishing scam involves fraudulent U.S. Internal Revenue Service Emails. The IRS or any reputable entity, for that matter, is never going to request your personal information via email or via an internet browser link.
clipped from www.us-cert.gov
IRS Stimulus Package Phishing Scam
added February 6, 2009 at 10:03 am | updated February 6, 2009 at 02:43 pm
US-CERT is aware of public reports indicating that phishing scams are circulating via fraudulent U.S. Internal Revenue Service emails offering users stimulus package payments. These emails include text that attempts to convince users to follow a link to a website or to complete an attached document. The website and document request the user to provide personal information.
Users receiving the fraudulent email messages are encouraged to send the email message and the website URL to the IRS at phishing@irs.gov.
US-CERT encourages users to do the following to help mitigate the risks:
- Do not follow unsolicited web links received in email messages.
- Refer to the Recognizing and Avoiding Email Scams (pdf) document for more information on avoiding email scams.
- Refer to the Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks (pdf) document for more information on social engineering attacks.
- Review the How to Report and Identify Phishing, E-mail Scams and Bogus IRS Web Sites document on the IRS website.
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Ah, yes. It is that time of year again. You can also expect to receive e-mails claiming there’s a “problem with your refund”.