"Hello!  I'm from the Internal Revenue Service, and I'm here to help you!"

Remember that old joke?  Well, it has resurfaced in a new form.  The Villagers email boxes have been getting a "Notice" from the "IRS", stating that they have some unreported income, and asks for personal financial information such as social security numbers, credit card information, etc.  They say it is necessary to pay past due taxes.

Don't fall for it!  It is a scam!

Messages purporting to come from the IRS have been dropping into millions of email inboxes in recent months, with the ominous subject heading "Notice of Underreported Income."

This phony IRS spam is said to account for 10% of all email spam sent out during those past few months.

In one version, the message asks you to click on a link that takes you to a bogus IRS page where you're asked to provide your Social Security number and credit card information, supposedly to make an additional tax payment.

In other words, it is simply an IRS phishing scam.  They want con you out of your banking information so they can empty your account.

In other cases, the message contains an attachment you're supposed to click to install a tax statement viewer.

In reality, clicking the attachment installs a virus called the Zeus Trojan, which enables the scammers to hack bank accounts.

Researchers say this Trojan -- said to be missed by most anti-virus software -- has been draining more than a million dollars a day from victims' accounts.

We've said it before and we'll say it again -- the IRS never makes unsolicited contact by email.  And when they do use email to respond to a message you sent them, they never ask for personal information.

If you receive this IRS scam message, simply ignore it and delete it.  If you're still worried that it might be genuine (though we assure you it isn't), contact the IRS by phone.

Just don't click on that link!  And if you already did, contact your bank straightaway to change passwords.  If money is already missing, contact the police to file a report.

Be alert!  Contact Seniors Vs Crime at 753-7775 (The Marion County in The Villages Office) or 753.2799, Extension 4253 (The Sumter County in The Villages Office) if you have any questions about solicitations such as this.

Stopping crime starts with you!