{"id":18332,"date":"2011-02-19T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-02-19T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/email-scam-warning-irs\/"},"modified":"2026-07-24T22:02:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-24T22:02:19","slug":"email-scam-warning-irs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/email-scam-warning-irs\/","title":{"rendered":"Email Scam Warning from IRS"},"content":{"rendered":"

Most people I talk to about their IRS problem have already built the worst-case scenario in their head. The reality is usually much more manageable. I'm Darrin Mish, and I've been representing taxpayers before the IRS for 32 years. Here's what actually tends to happen.<\/p>\n

When tax season comes around you will almost always find email scams. \u00a0If you have received an email that looks like it is from the IRS, do not believe it. \u00a0It\u2019s a scam. \u00a0The IRS will never email you about your taxes, whether it\u2019s for your business tax or personal tax.<\/div>\n
Most email scams are phishing scams, aimed at getting your personal particulars such as bank account numbers, Social Security numbers and other personal details so that the scammers can gain access to your funds.<\/div>\n
Some email messages say that you are due for a refund and require you to click a button or link and fill out a refund form<\/a>. \u00a0The IRS does not issue refund forms. \u00a0Another form or email scam tells you that your payment did not go through and they require your bank account number.<\/div>\n
These days, email scams have become so sophisticated that scammers can access your information once you click on a link, even if you did not disclose your personal details. \u00a0So do not click any link or open any attachment in an email. \u00a0Sometimes, doing so may expose your computer to viruses and malware or other malicious programs that allow them to steal information right off the computer. \u00a0You might not intentionally give them information, but they can take it anyway.<\/div>\n
In fact, a link or an attachment in an email supposedly from the IRS is a tell-tale sign of email scams. \u00a0The links generally lead you to a website that masquerades as the IRS website. \u00a0Remember the only URL that leads to the genuine IRS site is www.irs.gov, nothing else.<\/div>\n
Here are other tell-tale signs of an email scam:<\/div>\n
\u2022 The email gets the name of the IRS or other federal agency names wrong<\/div>\n
\u2022 The message threatens some consequence if you do not do what it says, such as tax penalties or additional taxes<\/div>\n
\u2022 There is an incentive for you to respond to the email such as a tax refund or a monetary reward<\/div>\n
\u2022 Asks for security-related information like your mother\u2019s maiden name either in the email itself or in the website the link in the email sends you to.<\/div>\n
\u2022 The message contains grammar and spelling errors. \u00a0Many such scams originate from overseas in non-native English speaking countries.<\/div>\n
\u2022 The email contains a really long URL in any link or one that does not start with www.irs.gov. \u00a0Sometimes the link may not contain the actual URL, so to see the actual URL, hover your mouse over the link without clicking it and look at the status bar at the lower part of your computer screen. \u00a0The URL should appear.<\/div>\n

Check out more Tax Related News<\/a> stories by clicking that link.<\/p>\n

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Most people I talk to about their IRS problem have already built the worst-case scenario in their head. The reality is usually much more manageable. I'm Darrin Mish, and I've been representing taxpayers before the IRS for 32 years. Here's what actually tends to happen. When tax season comes around you will almost always find […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[591],"tags":[594],"class_list":["post-18332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-irs-news","tag-irs-forms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18332"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21919,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18332\/revisions\/21919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/getirshelp.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}