In last week’s edition of my monthly newsletter, “The Snitch,” I discussed three tips to help avoid visiting or providing information on a fake website. In addition to fraudulent commercial websites, scammers are now launching fake government websites. These sites are designed to do nothing more than collect fees and steal personal information from visitors.
On April 7, the FBI and the Internet Crime Complaint Center issued a warning to consumers about fake government websites. So far, only a few consumers have been affected by this particular scam, but we’re really only in the beginning with this one.
The fake government website scenario
You need to file a tax form and search online for the IRS website. A link in the results takes you to a site where you download the form you need. The website includes an option to expedite processing of the form. You verify that the form looks legitimate and decide to pay the fee to get things moving. After the transaction, you’ll probably be advised to wait a few days for processing. When that time passes, you realize your form seems to have disappeared. In fact, it has.
The problem is that the website you’ve visited is a fake government website, a replica of the IRS.gov website. By the time you realize you’ve been scammed, the credit card you used for payment has been compromised. It may already be being used for fraudulent purchases. This is a clever twist on the commercial website scam, which has been around for years. As consumers have become more aware of the commercial website scam, it appears that the bad guys have realized they have an untapped “market” in fake government websites.
[mckenna float=right]Three tips to avoid the fake government website scenario
- Always look for the “.gov” extension on a government website. Never trust those without that extension.
- If you will be dealing with a company that says it is a service provider to a government agency, research the company by looking for independent reviews. You can also check bbb.org to see if the company has any consumer complaints.
- Always use a secure connection to process personally identifiable information. To ensure you’re on a secure site, look for the “https://“ prefix on the web address in your browser’s address bar.
