Just before the deadline for personal income tax filings, the Internal Revenue Service is warning consumers of a scam that targets the majority of American taxpayers who file online.
The scheme is so new, the government has no idea how many taxpayers have been bilked. The scam takes advantage of the federal "Free File" program, in which the IRS partners with software makers to allow taxpayers who earn up to $52,000 in taxable income to file electronically for free.
It works like this: Internet grifters send e-mails, luring taxpayers to Web pages that look like IRS-approved sites where they can file their taxes electronically. The scam artists send in the tax returns after redirecting refunds to their own bank accounts instead of those of the taxpayers.
Steven Peisner runs a non-profit identity theft support organization called sellitSAFE.com. He said a 24-year-old Northern California woman contacted him recently after someone else pocketed her $4,000 refund.
"She's pretty much in shock," he said. "And I think that being April 15 is today, I think we have just scratched the surface. And this is just the first victim that I've come in contact with right now. I think in the next couple of months we are going to see hundreds, if not thousands, of victims start to surface. And I think it's going to be a much bigger problem in the next few months."
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