Beware Of Scammers Sending Emails Disguised As Coming From IRS

(KNSI) – With the original IRS tax deadline looming this week, scammers could be using electronic means to steal from you.

Net V Pro in St. Cloud has some tips to avoid getting taken by thieves posing as members of the IRS.

Vice Presidents of Business Development for Net V Pro Keith Swingle says the most common IRS scam will come by email.

“Somebody may be clicking on an email that’s designed to look like something official, but it isn’t the web addresses on their leads someplace other than the IRS.”

He says if you’re not expecting an email from the IRS, you probably haven’t gotten an email from the IRS. Malicious emails can cause damage to your computer.

“It can introduce malware to your environment. It can compromise your passwords and those types of things.”

He says to take your mouse and hover over the links. If the links are taking you to a web address that’s anything other than irs.gov, it is very suspect.

The chances are relatively low that the IRS is going to communicate with anyone via an electronic format. Initially, you’re likely going to get something through the regular mail.

Besides looking at links, look at the way the sentences are written.

Many times you’ll see that the sentence structure is a little bit off.

You’re not going to get something from the IRS with improper grammar.

Swingle says if your computer is infected it, can cause some major headaches.

“one of the main ways that you’ll see an issue is just in the performance of your machine. It might be kind of laggy, kind of running slow performance issues. Those types of things can cause it or anything from just completely locking it up.”

He says you could be requested to pay a ransom to get your machine unencrypted.

He recommends backing up your data and make sure to have complex passwords.

If you do have an issue with your computer, take it to a professional for help.

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