Today’s Scam of the day, like so many others, comes directly from my own email.  It appears to be legitimate and the email address from which it was sent also appeared to be legitimate.  However, it is a hoax and a total scam.  A common scam used by many identity thieves is to send you an email that appears to come from a legitimate source requiring you to click on a link to verify or update your information.  NEVER do this in response to an email.   It is a simple matter for an identity thief to make an email appear as if it comes from a legitimate source and if you click on the link one of two things will happen and both are bad.  Sometimes through this scam known as phishing, you are taken to another website where you are asked to input personal information that is used to make you a victim of identity theft.  Other times, merely by clicking on the link, you will unwittingly download a keystroke logging malware program that will steal all of the information from your computer and use that information to make you a victim of identity theft

TIPS
The easiest way to know that an email is not from the IRS is to merely be aware that the the IRS does not communicate with taxpayers about such matters through email  so if you get an email from the IRS asking you to either verify or update information, it is a scam.  If you do receive an email requesting information or asking you to click on a link and you have the slightest thought that it might be legitimate, you should contact the entity at a telephone number or website address that you know is legitimate to inquire as to whether or not the email to you was a scam.  Also, it is very important to always keep your Firewall, anti-virus software and anti-malware software up to date with the latest security update.