INDIANAPOLIS — The Internal Revenue Service warned this week of an impersonation scam targeting educational institutions, including students and staff who have “.edu” email addresses.
The phony emails display the IRS logo and use various subject lines like “Tax Refund Payment” or “Recalculation of your tax refund payment.”
The fraudulent emails also ask people to click a link and submit a form to claim their refund, according to the agency.
The phishing emails are impacting university and college students from both public and private, profit and non-profit institutions.
The phishing website asks taxpayers to provide:
- Social Security Number
- First Name
- Last Name
- Date of Birth
- Prior Year Annual Gross Income (AGI)
- Driver's License Number
- Current Address
- City
- State/U.S. Territory
- ZIP Code/Postal Code
- Electronic Filing PIN
If you think you have a pending refund, you can check on its status at “Where’s My Refund?” on IRS.gov.
If you receive an email like this, do not click on the link in the email.
The IRS is asking you to save the email using “save as” and then send that attachment to phishing@irs.govor forward the email as an attachment to phishing@irs.gov.
You can obtain an Identity Protection PIN, which is a voluntary opt-in program that helps prevent identity thieves from filing fraudulent tax returns in your name.
