The IRS has recently issued a new alert on a phishing technique directed toward members of the military, retirees, and civilian employees. Phishing is a criminal attempt to acquire personal information such as social security number, username and login information, credit card numbers and more. More often than not these attempts are electronically based and present themselves as legitimate emails and/or webpages. You should always be vigilant when giving out your personal information and should rarely if ever provide this information to an unknown source. Never enter this information after following a link from an email or suspicious website.

This new scam appears to be an email from DFAS (Defense Finance and Accounting Service) and even appears as a .mil email address. The email promises pthe possibility in increased availability for disability compensation from the Department of Veterans Affairs and then asks the recipient to send off various forms to verify eligibility. Once these forms are sent the scammers will use the information on them to instigate identity theft.

The IRS is actively pursuing this case and others like it but vigilance is key. As soon as this threat is neutralized there will undoubtedly be another to take its place. The IRS maintains a list of current phishing scams that is constantly updated. You can access this list here. Please know that TaxSlayer.com will NEVER request your personal information via email and ONLY through our secure servers.