Many of us pay our taxes online and many of us have a refund deposited electronically into our bank accounts.  It is a quick and efficient way to pay your taxes and get your refund safely.  However, scam artists are aware of this and are sending out phony emails purporting to be from the IRS telling their victims that their refund deposit failed and asking the potential victim to click on a link for the details of how to remedy the situation.  Of course, if you click on the link, what you will end up doing is downloading keystroke logging malware that will enable the scammer to steal all of the information from your computer.  Some of the notices are even followed up with another email telling you that it is a second notice and that your refund is being cancelled unless you click on the link to remedy the situation.  Don’t click on the link.

TIPS

Never click on links unless you are positive that it is legitimate and even then you cannot be sure, if it is something being sent by a friend that they are not passing on something to you that they do not realize is infected.  In regard to this particular phishing scam, although the email looks legitimate, it does not include your name and the address line on the email  and indicates it was sent from an email address other than the IRS.  However, even if the email address appears to be from the IRS, it is easy to spoof or copy the address to make it appear that it is from the IRS.   The safe thing to do if you have any questions as to the legitimacy of such an email is to call or email the IRS.