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STRATEGIC ISSUES...ONLINE
For week
of August 14, 2006, Issue #273
Featured
Articles:
1. Electronic
Federal Tax Payment System Cited in New E-Mail Scam
2. Tech Tip
Weekly:
Icons to Avoid
3. Focus on
Fraud:
Timely Articles, with a Click
4. Compliance
Calendar
If you would like to have further information on any
of these articles, let us know. We would appreciate
receiving your comments and/or suggestions, anytime!
acarroll@pmcpa.com
acarroll@pmcpa.com
1. Electronic Federal
Tax Payment System Cited in New E-Mail Scam
The Internal Revenue
Service is warning taxpayers to be on the lookout for
a new e-mail scam that uses the Treasury Department's
Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS) as a
hook to lure individuals into disclosing their
personal information.
The system, which is
used by more than six million taxpayers, allows
businesses and individuals to pay all their federal
taxes online or by phone.
The new e-mail scam,
fraught with grammatical errors and typos, looks like
a page from IRS.gov and claims to be from the "IRS
Antifraud Commission" (sic), a fictitious group. The
e-mail claims someone has enrolled the taxpayer's
credit card in EFTPS and has tried to pay taxes with
it. The e-mail also says there have been fraud
attempts involving the taxpayer's bank account. The
e-mail claims money was lost and "remaining funds"
(sic) are blocked. Recipients are asked to click on a
link that will help them recover their funds, but the
subsequent site asks for personal information that the
thieves could use to steal the taxpayer's identity.
"The IRS does not send
out unsolicited e-mails asking for personal
information," said IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson.
"Don't be taken in by these criminals."
Additionally, the IRS
never asks people for the PIN numbers, passwords or
similar secret access information for their credit
card, bank or other financial accounts.
This latest e-mail scam
is the first one known to reference EFTPS.
2. Tech Tip Weekly:
Icons to Avoid
You probably won't come
across these icons unless you've chosen the MS Windows
XP Control Panel's lay-the-cards-on-the-table
approach: the Classic View. But if you come across
these icons, here's why you shouldn't click them.
Administrative Tools:
This icon's a definite no-no. There's nothing here
unless you're taking advanced computer classes. This
icon is meant for technicians.
Scheduled Tasks: Don't
fiddle around in here unless you can't possibly avoid
it. MS Windows XP can perform some tasks
automatically in the background, and it lists its
scheduled tasks here. They're mostly maintenance jobs
that don't need changing.
Speech: Click the
Speech icon to hear MS Microsoft Sam read the text on
your screen. Turn him off quickly when you hear how
awful he sounds.
3. Focus on Fraud:
Timely Articles, with a Click
The Surprising Findings
About Victims of Fraud
(Philadelphia Inquirer)
-- You're an educated person, optimistic,
higher-income, knowledgeable about finances. and
you're a good listener. Some might call you a good
catch. Con artists would consider you a good mark.
Click (or enter into
your browser):
Crooks Hit Easy Targets
(Daily Telegraph) --
Many small business operators leave themselves wide
open to online fraud simply because they have limited
IT skills and computer security isn't high enough on
their list of priorities. Computer hackers use
phishing emails, virus attacks and spyware to steal
money and information from businesses - no matter how
small they are.
Click (or enter into
your browser):
4. Compliance Calendar
August 16
-Employers deposit
Social Security, Medicare and withheld income tax for
August 9, 10, and 11.
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