How to Report a Suspicious IRS Email

With identity theft growing at a staggering rate, all "official" emails must be treated with due caution. The IRS, for example, only uses email to answer questions about their website with taxpayers, not for other issues. Should you receive an email from the IRS, chances are very good it's an IRS email scam. When in doubt, always report a suspicious IRS email for your own protection. Read on to learn how to report a suspicious IRS email.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

1. Save the email. The IRS can better assist you with authenticity if they have a forwarded copy of the exact email, rather than just a description of the contents.

2. Refrain from following any links in the email. Links in a fraudulent email can lead to official-looking mirror sites designed to obtain personal information. Instead, open the sites yourself in a separate browser window.

3. Abstain from opening any attachments to the email. They can contain viruses that can harm your computer. Don't concern yourself with the attachment's contents unless you can first verify the email is genuinely from the IRS. Curiosity can destroy your hard drive.

4. Forward the email with headers intact to the IRS. (See our Resources section.) With most email providers, you can drag and drop the suspicious email in its entirety into a new message. If this won't work in your email program, highlight the entire message with headers, copy and paste into a new email. Don't make any changes or additions to the email, and disregard attachments.

5. Report all phishing email to the Federal Trade Commission as well. Just visit their website or call [phone], or (877)ID-THEFT.

Tips & Warnings

• The IRS doesn't initiate contact with taxpayers through email, nor do they request personal information through the email system. Therefore any email claiming to be from the IRS is likely a phishing scam.

Resources

• IRS
• Federal Trade Commission