published March, 2012
‘Tis the Season to receive fake phishing emails from scammers.
My email spam catcher has received hundreds of “Your tax appeal is rejected,” “Rejection of your tax appeal,” “Termination of your accountant license,” or “Fraudulent tax return assistance accusations” from some combination of these email addresses.
First off—its irs.GOV and aicpa.ORG, not .COM
Second—I’m not a CPA, never was, don’t particularly want to be. I’m an Enrolled Agent, and I do have a federal license to prepare tax returns granted by the IRS (.gov), not a CPA. I’m ‘all qualified up’ having finished my continuing education requirements, and none of my tax appeals are ever rejected—at least not by email!
Third—The IRS DOES NOT EMAIL. They think it is an insecure method of communication. These are phishing scams—nefarious people trying to get me to disclose confidential personal information.
If you’re getting these too and you’d like to “turn the scammers in” do not “reply,” do not open any attachments, and do not click on any links. Forward the email as-is to phishing@irs.GOV then delete the email.