Id Theft Protection from Latest Phony IRS Scam

This an identity theft secrets "alert".

This latest scam by identity thieves targets
taxpayers into revealing personal information
such as your Social Security Number (SSN),
drivers license information, bank and credit
card numbers.

According to the U.S. Department of the
Treasury and Internal Revenue Service,
the scam works as follows:

The unsuspecting consumer receives an
email claiming they are under investigation
for tax fraud and subject to prosecution.

The intended victim is instructed they can
"help" the investigation by providing
detailed personal information to help dispute
the charges. The email then instructs the
consumer to a bogus website data form designed
to look like the real IRS one. That counterfeit
website containing many spelling errors, though,
has now been shut down.

Special note, the IRS does NOT use email to
contact taxpayers about issues related to
their accounts. Official taxpayer contact
usually comes to you via USPS mail in
the form of official IRS stationary and envelope.

So, today's tip is to be on the look out for
this latest scam and let your friends and
family know about it as it's highly likely to
re-surface again soon.

For your convenience, you can take advantage of our
"send post" feature located near the bottom
of this posting. By clicking on the icon, which
resembles an small envelope, it will open up a
new browser window containing a brief email form which
you can safely tell a friend about this
latest scam alert.

Finally, for those of you who do not prefer email,
you can choose any of our RSS feed alternatives
(located in the upper left hand side of this page
under "Subscriber Options".

Check back later this week as we will detail how
a typical identity theft occurs and new tips for
you to guard against this crime before you become
a victim.