How the scam works:

You receive an email from the tax authority in your country (IRS in US, CRA in Canada, etc). The message seems to be authentic, as it contains the organization logo, and came just a few days after you submitted your tax forms.

The text looks like this: “We received your tax return. However, we are unable to process the return. Our records indicate that the person identified as the primary taxpayer or spouse on the tax return did not provide all the required documents shown on the tax form. Our records are based on information received from the Social Security Administration. Based on this information, the tax account for the individual has been locked. Please print out the attached notification and list of missing documents, fill it in, add the documents and send the following information to the address shown in the attached notification.”

Many people fall for this as the message comes right at tax time every year.

How to avoid:

As in the Tax Refund Email scam, crooks are looking for all your personal information.

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