The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) can stir some not so pleasant, and at times, fearful thoughts in the minds of many Americans. For this reason, scammers have long sought to impersonate the IRS to try and scare money of out of their victims. It seems every year some variation of an IRS tax refund scam hits the Internet, and this year is no exception. Recently, this email has been spamming inboxes all over the country:

From: Internal Revenue Service [mailto:no-reply@irs.gov]
Sent: Wednesday, September 09, 2009 2:45 PM
To: XXXXXX
Subject: Notice of Underreported Income
Taxpayer ID: smith-00000174073547US
Tax Type: INCOME TAX
Issue: Unreported/Underreported Income (Fraud Application)
Please review your tax statement on Internal Revenue Service (IRS) website (click on the link below):
XXXXX SCAM HYPERLINK HERE—(removed by BBB for safety reasons)
Internal Revenue Service

BBB and IRS ADVICE
Do not open such emails. The IRS does not send random emails if it needs to communicate an urgent issue with you. Clicking on hyperlinks could take you and your computer to places that may be unsafe, not secure, and will most likely attempt to get you to compromise personal, sensitive info. Just don’t go there.

To find out more about phishing and email scams visit www.tucson.bbb.org or call (520)888-5353. Visit the IRS’s website for further information on how to report a phishing scam misusing the revenue service.

Welcome to Better Business Bureau Consumer Alert Blog!  It’s our hope that Southern Arizona consumers will not only use this blog as an educational resource, but to also stay on top of the latest developments in the Southern Arizona marketplace.

Each day BBB receives around 2,000 calls from consumers checking on businesses, filing complaints, or reporting possible marketplace scams they come across. After taking in so much information from consumers on a daily basis, BBB has gleaned an extensive database of scammers, phishers, get-rich-quick-artists, and pretty much any sort of dishonest marketplace behavior you can think of.

However, for every dishonest business or fly-by-night operation, there are dozens of businesses that aim to serve consumers with honesty and integrity. It’s the ultimate goal of BBB to steer consumers towards these businesses, by alerting them to the dishonest ones.

So from all of us at BBB, we hope that you find this blog informative as well as entertaining. Consumers can call, (520)888-5353 or email info@tucson.bbb.org, for more information on any blog entry posted here.