As many of you are already aware, the United States Internal Revenue Service is in the process of issuing millions of checks as part of the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008. These payments average $600 for individuals and $1,200 for those filing jointly. Anytime money is involved, it tends to bring out the criminal element ready to take advantage of unsuspecting citizens. The Economic Stimulus Act is no exception. Over the past several days, I have received dozens of official looking emails that appear to be from the Internal Revenue Service asking me to click on a link in order to expedite receiving my rebate. Below is a copy of the email I recently received:

INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE
United States Department Of The Treasury

Over 130 million Americans will receive refunds as part of The White House program to jumpstart the economy.

Our records indicate that you are qualified to receive the
2008 Economic Stimulus Refund.

The fastest and easiest way to receive your refund is by direct deposit to your checking/savings account.

Please follow the link and fill out the form and submit before May 17th, 2008 to ensure that your refund will be processed as soon as possible.

Submitting your form on May 17th, 2008 or later means that your refund will be delayed due to the volume of requests we anticipate for the Economic Stimulus Refund.

To access Economic Stimulus Refund, please click here :

http://210.11.88.209/_vti_rgl/www.irs.gov/0,,id=96596,00.html

© Copyright 2008, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A. All rights reserved.

To the unsuspecting person, this looks fairly official. By no means should you click on the link in this email. It is an attempt to gain your bank account information and defraud you out of your money. This is what is commonly referred to as a phishing scam. Basically it is an illegal and criminal attempt to gain information or money from you under false pretenses.

The IRS is on record that they do not communicate with taxpayers by email and any email received that appears to be from the IRS should be considered false and fraudulent. You can always contact your local IRS office in case you are unsure of any IRS related communication to confirm its authenticity. I thought I would get the word out to everyone so you can be on the look out in case you receive a similar email.