When Is a Tax Refund Not a Tax Refund? When it comes as an unsolicited e-mail from the IRS.

The IRS does not send out unsolicited e-mails asking for personal information. Nor does the service ever ask for PIN numbers, passwords or similar secret access information for your credit card, bank or other financial accounts.

When it comes as an unsolicited e-mail from the IRS.

The IRS does not send out unsolicited e-mails asking for personal information. Nor does the service ever ask for PIN numbers, passwords or similar secret access information for your credit card, bank or other financial accounts.

So, if you get what looks like an e-mail from the IRS stating you are entitled to a refund (and they do look REAL), it's a SCAM!

This scam is used by identity thieves during tax refund season to acquire personal financial data in order to gain access to the financial accounts of unsuspecting consumers, run up charges on their credit cards or apply for new loans in their names. These Internet-based criminals pose as the IRS and send out fictitious e-mail correspondence from the Service in an attempt to trick consumers into disclosing private information.

The IRS noted that e-mail addresses ending with ".edu" - involving users in the education community - currently seem to be heavily targeted - perhaps because teachers are always hopeful of getting refunds.

WHAT TO DO:

On electronic mailbox is now available.

Use the This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it mailbox to send copies of possibly fraudulent e-mails involving misuse of the IRS name and logo to the IRS for investigation.

Instructions are available on the IRS Website at www.irs.gov.

Enter the term phishing in the search box in the upper right hand corner.
Open the article titled "How to Protect Yourself from Suspicious E-Mails" and scroll through it until you find the instructions.

Supposedly, following these instructions helps ensure that the bogus e-mails relayed by taxpayers retain critical elements found in the original e-mails so the IRS can use the information, URLs and links in the bogus e-mails to trace the hosting Websites and alert authorities to help shut down these fraudulent sites.