Warning: IRS Warns About Phony Web Sites

Here is a word from the Goodfellas at the IRS:

The Internal Revenue Service is issuing a warning about a new tax scam that uses a website that mimics the IRS e-Services online registration page.

The actual IRS e-Services page offers web-based products for tax preparers and payers, not the general public. The phony web page looks almost identical to the real one.

The IRS gets many reports of fake websites like this. Criminals use these sites to lure people into providing personal and financial information that may be used to steal the victim’s money or identity.
The address of the official IRS website is www.irs.gov. Don’t be misled by sites claiming to be the IRS but ending in .com, .net, .org or other designations instead of .gov.

If you find a suspicious website that claims to be the IRS, send the site’s URL by email to phishing@irs.gov. Use the subject line, 'Suspicious website'.

Be aware that the IRS does not initiate contact with taxpayers by email to request personal or financial information. This includes any type of electronic communication, such as text messages and social media channels.

If you get an unsolicited email that appears to be from the IRS, report it by sending it to phishing@irs.gov.

The IRS has information at www.irs.gov that can help you protect yourself from tax scams of all kinds. Search the site using the term “phishing.”

Whatever, I Do What Want: IRS Couldn’t Document $394,430 in Labor Hours

The Internal Revenue Service could not provide documentation for $394,430 of the invoiced labor hours paid on an estimated $1 million in labor charges, according to a new report.

The report, released by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, found that the IRS received an appropriation of $203 million in funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The IRS awarded $85.4 million in contracts using Recovery Act funds for work that included reprogramming IRS computer systems, updating related tax forms and publications, and providing customer services to assist taxpayers with the new tax law provisions included in the Recovery Act.

TIGTA initiated its audit because it is required to monitor the IRS’s implementation of Recovery Act provisions. The overall objective of TIGTA’s review was to assess the IRS’s controls over contract invoice review, approval, and payment processes and to identify improper payments of Recovery Act funds made to contractors.

The IRS responded: "Whatever we are the IRS, we do what we want!"

Of course, I'm joking about the IRS response. However, the IRS can do better than this.

South Carolina tax returns exposed by computer hacker

An international hacker broke into the South Carolina Department of Revenue computer files and gained access to about 3.6 million tax returns, state and federal officials announced October 26th.

The Governor of South Carolina said the hacked files included state returns submitted since 1998 with unencrypted Social Security numbers. There also were about 387,000 credit and debit card numbers of which 16,000 were unencrypted.

Officials said people whose information has been compromised will get a free year of identity protection service provided by Experian and paid for by the state. It wasn't clear how much that would cost the state.

Anyone who filed a South Carolina tax from 1998 onward is being asked to call 1-866-578-5422. All taxpayers, whether they filed electronically or with paper returns are being urged to call the number.
In addition to working with the federal government, the state has hired Mandiant, a private information security company, to assist in the investigation.

Earlier this year, the personal information of 228,000 Medicaid patients was stolen in South Carolina and a former Department of Health and Human Services project manager was arrested.

Well, this sounds like another reason why I will never live in the great state of South Carolina.