Protect your personal information! The IRS does not initiate taxpayer communications through email
What is phishing?
Phishing is a scam typically carried out by unsolicited email and/or websites that pose as legitimate sites and lure unsuspecting victims to provide personal and financial information.
All unsolicited email claiming to be from either the IRS or any other IRS-related components such as EFTPS, should be reported to phishing@irs.gov.
However, if you have experienced monetary losses due to an IRS-related incident please file a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission through their Complaint Assistant to make that information available to investigators.
What to do if you receive a suspicious IRS-related communication
If |
Then |
You receive an email claiming to be from the IRS that contains a request for personal information … |
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You discover a website on the Internet that claims to be the IRS but you suspect it is bogus … | … send the URL of the suspicious site to phishing@irs.gov. Please add in the subject line of the email, ‘Suspicious website’. |
You receive a phone call or paper letter via mail from an individual claiming to be the IRS but you suspect they are not an IRS employee … | Phone call:
Letter or notice via paper mail:
If caller or party that sent the paper letter is not legitimate, contact the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration at 1.800.366.4484. |
You receive an unsolicited e-mail or fax, involving a stock or share purchase … | … and you are a U.S. citizen located in the United States or its territories or a U.S. citizen living abroad.
… and you are not a U.S. citizen and reside outside the United States.
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You receive an unsolicited fax (such as Form W8-BEN) claiming to be from the IRS, requesting personal information … | Contact the IRS to determine if the fax is from the IRS.
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You have a tax-related question …Note: Do not submit tax-related questions |
Remember, the IRS does not initiate email communication with taxpayers regarding EFTPS or tax account matters.
The IRS does not …
… request detailed personal information through email.
… send any communication requesting your PIN numbers, passwords or similar access information for credit cards, banks or other financial accounts.
What to do if you receive a suspicious email message that does not claim to be from the IRS
If |
Then |
You receive a suspicious phishing email not claiming to be from the IRS … | Forward the email as-is to reportphishing@antiphishing.org. |
You receive an email you suspect contains malicious code or a malicious attachment and you HAVE clicked on the link or downloaded the attachment … | Visit OnGuardOnline.gov to learn what to do if you suspect you have malware on your computer. |
You receive an email you suspect contains malicious code or a malicious attachment and you HAVE NOT clicked on the link or downloaded the attachment … | Forward the email to your Internet Service Provider’s abuse department and/or to spam@uce.gov. |