How to give all your money to thieves

There is a phishing scam going on again this year, as in previous years, that poses as an IRS notification to steal your money and/or identity.

It looks like this:

>>> "Internal Revenue Service" 1/7/2009 11:14 AM >>>
After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we
have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $92.50.
Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 3-6 days in order to process it.
A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons. For example submitting invalid
records or applying after the deadline.

To access the form for your tax refund, please click here :

http://.ca/date/Internal/Revenue/Service/index.html

Regards,
Internal Revenue Service.

© Copyright 2009, Internal Revenue Service U.S.A.

Of course, this is a scam. You can tell because:

1. The URL of the link isn't to the IRS site;
2. The IRS knows where you live, and would just send you a check;
3. The bad grammar of the message;
4. They don't need you to fill out another form, because you (presumably) already filled out your tax forms (otherwise, how would they know you are owed a refund?);
   
5. The IRS has a warning about this kind of fraud;
6. The IRS doesn't communicate via email unless you've asked them to;
   

Don't be fooled. Use those critical thinking skills. (BTW, the URL of the link has been changed above so that it won't actually go there.)

*You may ask, "How did this spam get through our district spam filter?" Easy. It's not spam. Spam is unsolicited email trying to sell you something. This is a phishing scam, which is much harder to identify because it looks legitimate, and isn't selling anything.