HARRISBURG – State Rep. Camille “Bud” George, D-74 of Houtzdale, warned of two online scams involving emails that are showing up in Central Pennsylvania.
“One scam is an e-mail purportedly from the Internal Revenue Service that is transmitted on official-looking IRS letterhead,” George said. “It’s a classic ‘phishing’ scam where people are lured into entering another Internet page so confidential information such as Social Security and credit card numbers can be obtained.”
The bogus email reads:
“After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $63.80. Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 6-9 days in order to process it… To access the form for your tax refund, please click here.”
George said the IRS does not use e-mail to contact taxpayers. People receiving such emails may call 800-829-1040 toll-free to check whether an IRS notice is authentic.
Suspected tax fraud can be reported using IRS Form 3949-A, Information Referral, which is available from the IRS Web site, or through the mail by calling 800-829-3676.
A second e-mail scam asks people to update their Verizon billing information and lists “Important notice from Verizon billing center” in the e-mail subject line.
“Verizon does not verify account information by e-mail, and it is urging recipients not to respond,” George said. “The company is investigating the scam, which could lead to identity theft.”
