Comments on: Scam Alert: Unreported/Underreported Income Email

By: Dave

Dave — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 05:54:37 +0000

SCAM ALERT (please spread the word!)

ALL: “xanshop” is fraudulent! NEVER NEVER OPEN IT. They hack accounts and send messages to all on their victim’s mailing lists urging recipients to open the xanshp site. Anyone reading their pitch closely, will understand from the clumsy grammar that the perpetrators are Nigerian, Pakistani, Channel Islanders or some other bloody wogs. However the danger in these messages is that they apparantly come from sources a recipient would be inclined to trust – and thus click on the xanshpt site. This thing is toxic! Try and get the message details from any e-mail you get with xanshop in it and trace it back to the source – then spread the word. Also, by all means report it to your IT security.

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 15:10:26 +0000

All – one additional comment:

I’m responding to MTeng (above) – who makes a good point:

- “…how did the IRS know your work email address? The taxpayer ID they show is also the first part of your email address”.

Yes, this is true – and there are other features of this kind of phishing message that reveal it to be false. But… getting damn near anything from the IRS may induce blind panic even (and especially) if you know yourself to be clean. The government NEVER makes… uhhhh…admits mistakes, as plenty of innocents have discovered the hard way. So never mind logic, for a 21st Century American, getting a message like the aforementioned one, is probably a bit akin to what a citizen of Spain c1450 might have felt on getting a query from local religious authorities about “consorting with Devils” and such.

And yes.. the IRS does “put to the Question” those deemed to be apostate. It’s called an “audit”. !

Carpe Diem! – Dave

By: Dave

Dave — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 14:42:03 +0000

Hi Sharon.

Many thanks for posting the message above: “Scam Alert: Unreported/Underreported Income Email”. I got the “IRS” message and it almost scared me into clicking the link. I’m sure I’m not alone – and God knows how many other folks have been victimized by this. That thing is purely diabolical.

I received it through my institutional (UCONN) e-mail and immediately reported it to UCONN’s IT security – however I think they are getting swamped by this kind of thing.

A bit of dissection and net searching I did on the message led to your site. THANK YOU!!!!! The sense of relief I got after looking at the posting above was enormous! You have done a real public service by letting folks on the receiving end of the above scam that they have NOT been put on some kind of government hit list.

God Bless You! – Dave
Sincerely,
David Haines, Ph.D.
Visiting Research Professor
Faculty of Pharmacy
Health Science Center
University of Debrecen
Nagyerdei krt. 98
4032-Debrecen Hungary

By: Sam

Sam — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 16:50:19 +0000

Yep, I am getting three of these everyday. And somehow they manage to put my name in the subject line too. Very ingenious,eh! Yes I checked the domain, it is actually not the irs.gov domain but a subdomain that starts with http://www.irs.gov
.-= Sam´s last blog ..Get back ex boyfriend with these simple tricks =-.

By: MTeng

MTeng — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 18:35:02 +0000

We’ve been getting these emails for over a month where I work. We’ve had several people respond to them including our accounting department. One thing that seems to get missed by everyone that has responded to these is, how did the IRS know your work email address? The tax payer ID they show is also the first part of your email address. I thought it was your SSN. Anyway, these have been pretty easy to spot compared to some of the more polished banking ones we’ve seen that include official looking letter head and links to websites that look just like the official bank site.

By: Holly - The Work at Home Woman

Holly - The Work at Home Woman — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 12:41:44 +0000

Thanks for the information! It’s a shame that there are so many people who are willing to take advantage of other people’s trust… The key is to thoroughly research the notice or work at home opportunity before taking any action. General rule of thumb is, banks, IRS and other reputable organizations will not use email as their primary means of correspondence, but they will send a letter via the US postal service or ring you via phone. Be very careful of any email warning or opportunity.
.-= Holly – The Work at Home Woman´s last blog ..The Work at Home Woman is Looking for Guest Bloggers! =-.

By: Dave

Dave — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 08:01:12 +0000

Phishing scams seems to be becoming more and more scam sophisticated. Thanks for pointing out about it.

By: Kaila Colbin

Kaila Colbin — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 05:58:32 +0000

Thanks for this — I consider myself an advanced Internet user and I completely fell for this one!

All the best,
Kaila
.-= Kaila Colbin´s last blog ..Thank you to a thoughtful mother =-.

By: Oqab Mohamed

Oqab Mohamed — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 14:11:53 +0000

I received that too, in fact multiple times.
I am Canadian, i live and work in Canada…

becareful out there
cheers

By: sharon

sharon — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 15:08:28 +0000

So true! I definitely felt that chill when I received the first one. Of course I’ve received the same message about 50 times since then

Reminds me of when I was on the board of our local girls softball association. I received an official looking letter saying that we were going to our non-profit status if we didn’t file certain paperwork. It went on to say that we would need to have them fill out the forms and that there was a $180 fee. It looked like an official IRS form. It even had board member’s names and addresses on it (not the current ones, but old ones that had in fact been on the board). Luckily, I read all the way through and way at the bottom in teeny, tiny print was a line that said, “This notice was not sent by the U.S. Government and is in no way connected with the IRS”. I’ll bet a lot of people just paid the fee, not wanting to be responsible for losing non-profit status for their organization.