Malware attack claims the IRS has rejected your tax appeal

Computer users are finding a message in their email inbox which isn’t all that it seems.

The messages appear to come from the IRS, and claim that the recipient’s tax refund appeal has been rejected.

Here’s a typical message:

Dear Business owner,
Hereby you are notified that your Income Tax Refund Appeal id#6636527 has been DECLINED. If you believe the IRS did not properly estimate your case due to a misunderstanding of the facts, be prepared to provide additional information. You can obtain the rejection details and re-submit your appeal by using the instructions in the attachment.

Internal Revenue Service

Subject lines used by the emails include:

Rejection of your tax appeal.
Your tax return appeal is declined.
IRS notification of your tax appeal status.

Of…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the cybersecurity industry, having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of cybersecurity, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter, Mastodon, Threads, Bluesky, or drop him an email.