Treasurer Cautions Delawareans About Tax Rebate Scam E-mails
In response to reports of bogus e-mails from the Internal Revenue Service seeking personal information, Delaware State Treasurer Jack Markell cautioned Delawareans to be wary about providing personal financial information in response to official looking e-mails.
"When people receive an official looking e-mail, complete with IRS graphics, they want to be compliant with the IRS, and may be more likely to respond," State Treasurer Jack Markell said. "The bottom line is that the IRS does not send an e-mail or place a phone call to you requesting you to provide personal information or directing you to a webpage to provide your name, Social Security number, birth date or any other personal information."
The IRS reports that they will be mailing letters to 130 million households beginning this week as part of an extensive outreach effort to remind people to file a 2007 tax return so they will receive their portion of the $168 billion economic stimulus plan.
"The Office of the State Treasurer has seen all types of scams over the years aimed at defrauding Delawareans out of their money," Markell said. "These e-mails are just another way that scammers have adapted to defraud people."
According to the Internal Revenue Service's website www.IRS.gov, the IRS does not initiate taxpayer communications through e-mail. Delawareans who receive an e-mail or phone contact from someone claiming to be from the IRS are encouraged to report it to the IRS at 800/366-4484 or by forwarding the e-mail to phishing@irs.gov.
###
