Current Activity - US Tax Season Phishing Scams and Malware Campaigns

[Current Activity <us-cert () us-cert gov>]

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US-CERT Current Activity

US Tax Season Phishing Scams and Malware Campaigns

Original release date: March 26, 2010 at 10:21 am
Last revised: March 26, 2010 at 10:21 am


In the past, US-CERT has received reports of an increased number of
phishing scams and malware campaigns that take advantage of the United
States tax season. Due to the upcoming tax deadline, US-CERT reminds
users to remain cautious when receiving unsolicited email that could
be part of a potential phishing scam or malware campaign.

These phishing scams and malware campaigns may include the following:
information that refers to a tax refund, warnings about unreported or
under-reported income, offers to assist in filing for a refund, or
details about fake e-file websites. These messages, which appear to be
from the IRS, may ask users to submit personal information via email
or may instruct the user to follow a link to a website that requests
personal information or contains malicious code.

At this time, US-CERT is aware of public reports indicating that there
is active circulation of a tax season malware campaign. This malware
campaign may be using malicious code commonly known as Zeus or Zbot.

US-CERT encourages users and administrators to take the following
measures to protect themselves from these types of phishing scams and
malware campaigns:
  * Do not follow unsolicited web links in email messages.
  * Maintain up-to-date antivirus software.
  * Refer to the IRS website related to phishing, email, and bogus
    website scams for scam samples and reporting information.
  * Refer to the Recognizing and Avoiding Email Scams (pdf) document
    for more information on avoiding email scams.
  * Refer to the Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks
    document for more information on social engineering attacks.

Relevant Url(s):
<http://www.us-cert.gov/cas/tips/ST04-014.html>

<http://www.us-cert.gov/reading_room/emailscams_0905.pdf>

<http://www.irs.gov/privacy/article/0,,id=179820,00.html?portlet=5>

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This entry is available at
http://www.us-cert.gov/current/index.html#us_tax_season_phishing_scams

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