IRS Spam: Pecuniary Penalty for Delay of Tax Return Filing

Experts have issued numerous alerts to warn users about scams that involve the IRS. One of these scams attempts to trick users into installing a piece of malware onto their computers.

Dynamoo’s Blog reports that bogus IRS emails warn recipients of a “pecuniary penalty for delay of tax return filling.”

The emails read:

“Herewith we are informing you that you are required to pay a surcharge for not filling the income tax return prior to January 31.

Please note that IRS Section 7117-F-8 specifies a money penalty of $2.000 for each Form 479 that is filled later than deadline for filling the income tax return or does not contain the exhaustive information described in 7117-F-8.

You will be released from the pecuniary penalty when the taxpayer shows that the failure to file was caused by substantial reason.

Please visit official website for more information.”

Users who click on the link are taken to one of many malware-serving sites hosted on servers from Korea and Lithuania.

Beware of such emails and make sure that your antivirus is up to date to have a better chance at mitigating such threats.