Police: Fake IRS Phishing Scam Circulating

If you've received an email from the IRS recently and are unsure of its validity, there is good reason to suspect it's a phishing scam if it looks like this one:

From: Internal Revenue Service [mailto:pustomer@irs.gov]

Sent: Sun 1/8/2012 6:08 AM
Subject: Tax report #ID9794Tax Refund, 

The analysis of the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity has indicated that you are entitled to receive a tax refund of $115.24.   Please submit a request of the tax refund and a processing of the request will take 7-14 days.  A tax refund can be delayed by different reasons.  For instance submission of invalid records or sending after the deadline. 
Please find the form of your tax refund attached and fill out it and send a report.

Yours sincerely,
IRS.

Northampton Township Police wish to alert the community to this scam so no one fall into its trap.

"Agent [David] Shallcross said that this IRS scam had not been seen for some time, but apparently has returned," Police Chief Barry Pilla said. Shallcross is part of the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office.

"Phishing" is a type of scam where the scammer attempts to "trick unsuspecting victims into revealing personal and financial information that can be used to steal the victims' identity," according to irs.gov. 

If you have more information or think you've received an email that might be a scam, feel free to contact the Northampton Township Police Department at (215) 322-6111. Also you can call Shallcross at 1-866-623-2137 or by emailing him at dshallcross@attorneygeneral.gov or elderabuse@attorneygeneral.gov.