"Strange coincidence?"
Do you share a static IP address with your wife?
Hey, look what I found:
Tax Time Spawns Scams
By Lana F. Flowers
The Morning News
Add identity theft, stolen refund checks and withheld refunds to the numerous frustrations of tax time. The Internal Revenue Service is not the only entity interested in your mothers' maiden name, credit card and Social Security numbers and other personal information. Scam artists perpetuate e-mail scams, known as "phishing," trying to get people to give personal and financial information, so scammers can commit identity theft. Thieves may watch mailboxes to steal refund or Social Security checks.
And if you don't receive the expected refund, don't always blame a miscreant. The IRS, possibly suspicious of your filing, might be holding your refund.
Tax refunds may be fertile ground for fraud because there are so many returns filed. The IRS reports 133.93 million individual tax returns were filed in 2005, a 1.3 percent increase from the 132.2 million refunds filed in 2004, the IRS reported. The average tax refund was $2,171 in 2005, a 2.1 percent increase from the 2004 average tax refund of $2,126, according to the IRS.
Consumers can protect themselves from tax schemes by not taking phishing bait or by calling the IRS to check the status of refunds.
Tax Phishing
The tax refund phishing scam starts with an e-mail, which appears to originate from taxrefunds@irs.gov. The e-mail tells recipients they may be owed a federal tax refund.
Mike Beebe, Arkansas attorney general, recently warned Arkansans about a specific e-mail scam that uses official sounding language about tax laws. A link in the e-mail purports to take consumers to a secure Web site, where they can enter financial information and account numbers. Beebe said it's a trick to steal consumers' money. "Like other government agencies, the IRS does not send you an e-mail out of the blue asking for your personal information," Beebe said in a statement.