The Internal Revenue Service is warning of a scam mailing leading individuals to believe they are owed the refund. The letter seeks a variety of detailed personal information from the recipients
The mailing comes in a cardboard envelope from a delivery service incorporating the IRS masthead and says the notice is "in relation to your unclaimed refund."
Besides asking for contact information for taxpayers, the letter seeks information such as detailed pictures of a driver’s license.
The letter tells the recipients they need to provide "Filing Information" for their refund and includes instructions to provide "A Clear Phone of Your Driver's License That Clearly Displays All Four (4) Angles, Taken in a Place with Good Lighting." It also requests recipients’ cellphone numbers, bank routing information, Social Security numbers and bank account types.
The letter warns the information must be provided for the recipient to obtain a refund.
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind
