Hello all,
There have been a number of fraudulent emails purporting to be from the IRS received by New Paltz email accounts. So far at least - these all appear to have been marked as spam. Since that may not always be the case (criminals often change their emails to evade filters) - I wanted to write about this.
These emails are targeting people based on the $1,400 stimulus checks most are receiving due to the recent federal covid recovery bill. As with most fraudulent emails - they try to get people to click on these emails through emotional manipulation (typically desire/need, or fear).
A screenshot of this email is below (the highlights are in red). If you receive an email like this - it is fraudulent. As always, if you receive emails with links - hover over the links before clicking on them to see the actual destination (as shown in the screenshot).
If someone were to click on that link - they would be brought to a fake IRS page - that even has a fake warning message to make their page seem more authentic. Based on the questions they are asking (name, address, drivers license number, and IRS filing pin) they are most likely gathering information so they can file fraudulent tax returns and steal the refund.
As always - keep being cautious. Criminals will continue to use topics in the news like this pandemic relief bill as a hook to get people to give out their information.