Nothing’s certain but death, taxes … and scams related to them

Mailboxes are filling with the paperwork we need to fill out tax forms. We can dread figuring out what we might owe, we can dread having to mail a check to Uncle Sam or the state, but there’s something even worse: Falling for a tax-related scam that could lead to identity theft.

From the IRS web site, which provides lots of warnings: “Phishing (as in “fishing for information” and “hooking” victims) is a scam where Internet fraudsters send e-mail messages to trick unsuspecting victims into revealing personal and financial information that can be used to steal the victims’ identity.

Current scams include phony e-mails which claim to come from the IRS and which lure the victims into the scam by telling them that they are due a tax refund.”

Remember: Don’t give out your social security number or financial account numbers over the phone or in reply to an e-mail. Keep in mind that it’s relatively easy to make fake phone calls or e-mail accounts that seem official.

One scam making the rounds this month, according to the Identity Theft Resource Center, involves what purports to be a request from the IRS for your up-to-date information. You’re supposed to download and fill out an attached W-2 form before Feb. 10. But the download unleashes a Trojan horse – software that will cause problems within your computer.

If you’re tired of hearing such warnings, feel free to move on. But many people fall for such schemes.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper in Sydney, Australia, staged a test recently through an Internet security company: People in their 50s were asked on Facebook to become “friends” with a photo of two cats and provide personal information. Many did.

If any young hipsters or computer geeks take this as proof of the gullibility of their parents’ generation, consider this: When Facebook users in their 20s were asked in similar fashion to befriend a rubber duck, nearly half did. No harm done, right? Wrong — many “volunteered some of their most intimate details to both the rubber duck and the cats, including their full date of birth, workplace, email address and location. Some even volunteered full addresses and phone numbers without prompting.”

The British government is so concerned about the public’s online security that it’s planning required lessons on the dangers for all children older than 5.

For information about avoiding e-mail scam, junk mail and unwanted phone calls, see Carole Frey’s Jan. 26 story.