IRS Scam

As reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:

The Internal Revenue Service sent out an alert warning taxpayers about an e-mail scam that claims they are the subjects of a criminal investigation, and then asks them to click on a link that allows the scammer to take over the person's computer remotely.  When a hard drive is hijacked in such a way, the scammer has access to all the information a computer user has saved on his hard drive.  The e-mail claims to be from the agency's Criminal Investigation division and says that the recipient is under criminal probe for submitting a false tax return to the California Franchise Board.  It then asks the person to click on a link or open an attachment to find out more about the complaint against him or her.  Once the person does so, the link or attachment can allow the scammer to remotely access the person's hard drive.  IRS spokesman Mark S. Green pointed out that the agency does not send out unsolicited e-mails or asks for a person's personal or financial information.  The agency said the person should forward the e-mail to [email protected]. The instructions can be found on IRS.gov by entering the term "phishing" in the search box.