Email Phishing for IRS and Paypal

During the month of August, 2013, we have noticed two phishing attempts from people trying to get personal information through emails appearing to come from the IRS and PayPal. Remember, neither company will ever send a personal email to you asking to update your account. If you do receive such an email, forward the entire mail to the appropriate address listed below:

phishing@irs.gov    or    spoof@paypal.com

I contacted each and got the following:

From the Internal Revenue Service:

Please note that the IRS does not contact individuals by email.

Therefore, if you received an email claiming to be from the IRS it is a phishing attempt and should be reported to us.

From Paypal:

• to stay safe from PayPal fraud or scams:
• Log in safely: To log in to your PayPal account or access the PayPal website, open a new web browser (e.g., Internet Explorer or Firefox or Chrome) and type in the following: https://www.paypal.com/
• Check the email greeting: Emails from PayPal will always address you by your first and last name or the business name associated with your PayPal account. A PayPal scam email may include the salutation “Dear PayPal User” or “Dear PayPal Member”
• Look out for attachments: PayPal emails will never ask you to download an attachment or a software program. An attachment found in a PayPal scam email will often contain a virus that can harm your computer or compromise your PayPal account
• Never give out personal information: If we require information from you, we will notify you in an email and request that you enter the information only after you have safely and securely logged in to your PayPal account.

PF 8.23.13