Better Business Bureau of Southern Arizona is warning consumers that an IRS EFTPS phishing scam is actively soliciting victims. EFTPS, the IRS’s Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, is a free online service offered by the U.S. Department of Treasury to help businesses and individuals conveniently pay their taxes electronically.

Businesses and individuals have received e-mails that claim to be sent from the U.S. Treasury with the subject line: Your Tax Payment ID: 010377149 has been rejected. Urgent Report information. The body of the e-mail reads:

Your Federal Tax Payment ID: 0103758 has been rejected.
Return Reason Code R21 – The identification number used in the Company Identification Field is not valid.
Please, check the information and refer to Code R21 to get details about your company payment in transaction contacts section:

http://eftps.gov/R21 (link deactivated by BBB)
In other way forward information to your accountant adviser.

EFTPS: The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System
PLEASE NOTE: Your tax payment is due regardless of EFTPS online
availability. In case of an emergency, you can always make your tax
payment by calling the EFTPS.

If you receive this e-mail, delete it. “The IRS does not send out unsolicited e-mails asking for personal information,” said Kim States, BBB President. “Don’t be taken in by these criminals.”

Tricking consumers into disclosing their personal and financial information, such as secret access data or credit financial loss or bank account numbers, is fraudulent activity and can result in identity theft. Such schemes perpetrated through the Internet are called “phishing” for information.

The information fraudulently obtained is then used to steal the taxpayer’s identity and financial assets. Typically, identity thieves use someone’s personal data to empty the victim’s financial accounts, run up charges on the victim’s existing credit cards, apply for new loans, credit cards, services or benefits in the victim’s name and even file fraudulent tax returns.

When the IRS learns of new schemes involving use of the IRS name or logo, it issues consumer alerts warning taxpayers about the schemes.

The IRS also has established an electronic mailbox for taxpayers to send information about suspicious e-mails they receive which claim to come from the IRS. Taxpayers should send the information to: phishing@irs.gov.

How to Identify and Report Phishing, E-mail Scams and Bogus IRS Web Sites

• Do not reply.
• Do not open any attachments. Attachments may contain malicious code that will infect your (more…)

Whether you’re interested in a modeling career, just want to make a few extra bucks or you think your child might have a future in acting or modeling, be on the lookout for scammers. The Better Business Bureau warns that some modeling agencies are just trying to make a fast buck and don’t deliver on promises of fame and fortune.

In the last three years, would-be models have researched agencies with the BBB more than half a million times. Unfortunately, BBB also received more than 2,000 complaints from people who feel they were misled by an agency into paying large upfront fees—often for headshots and portfolios—and received little or no modeling or acting work in return.

“Modeling can be a great way to supplement your income, but signing up with a deceptive talent agency can be a waste of time and money or, in the worst case scenario, put you in physical danger,” said Kim States, BBB President. “Even if the agency tells you that you have ‘the look’, always take the time to do your research and don’t fall for empty promises.”

Common complaints to BBB about talent and modeling agencies often come from would-be models or parents who think their kids have star potential. Typically, they are told they need to pay upfront fees—such as for headshots—after which the agency will start finding them work. Complainants report that despite paying hundreds or even thousands of dollars in various upfront fees, the agency found them few, if any, jobs.

In an extreme example of a modeling agency opportunity gone horribly wrong, the BBB in Louisville has received complaints from local men who paid hundreds of dollars in upfront fees—or became indebted for these fees—to Models Today in exchange for the promise of landing modeling jobs. Instead, the young men stated that the owner, Russell Claxon, took shirtless photos of them in a park and never set them up with any jobs. Several complaints to BBB made reference to solicitation for (more…)