Cons gone phishing for tax season

As accountants sharpen pencils and file W-2s in preparation for the tax season, everyone, including students, should be on the lookout for "phishing" scams intended to steal tax and other personal information in their email inboxes, experts say.

Attorney General Michael Mukasey recently issued a statement warning consumers not to be fooled by Internet scam artists who pose as Internal Revenue Service officials in order to steal information that people would normally provide on federal tax forms.

False solicitation through email has been nicknamed "phishing" for its attempt to "hook" unsuspecting victims into naively surrendering to identity theft.

Attorney Generals Office spokeswoman Amie Burton said a new variation of email scamming has been directed at taxpayers because it offers fake tax refunds in return for personal financial information.

"Our office became aware of this situation because our consumer division staff monitor scams and are also in contact with consumer groups and the IRS on a fairly regular basis," she said.

The office requests that people forward any questionable emails to the IRS to help purge the Internet of scam artists. IRS spokeswoman Peggy Riley said the agency inspects the emails and has found it originates from addresses in the United States and 27 other countries.

"We don't do any direct emailing with taxpayers," Riley said. "Taxpayers can file a return online, but they cannot file directly with the IRS. They would have to go through a third party with a compatible and secure computer to make sure nothing is made available to hackers."

The rise of online correspondence has made more people susceptible to Internet scam artists, said accountant Avi Asaraf.

"Older people seem to be the most vulnerable to these solicitations because they don't always think about how easy it is to create a fake email address," Asaraf said. "They are quick to trust offers and requests they get online and that's how they get their identities stolen."

He said Internet users who are on guard can catch scams.

"If something looks like it's too good to be true, just delete it or call a financial advisor," he said. "You can't be too careful with your personal information."

Both the oldest and youngest tax filers may be susceptible to email scams.

Boston University spokesman Colin Riley said the university had to send out emails on Jan. 31 warning students of a scheme in which hackers attempted to steal students' information by requesting their Kerberos passwords by email.

"Our systems are monitored for these kinds of scams and they are very secure, but students must know that they should never provide any information, especially to unknown addresses," he said.