New e-mail hoax making rounds locally

There is a new, rather convincing hoax going on right now via email from what appears to be the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

This email was sent to Dianna Gorrell, Director of Friends of the Park in Russellville. She was immediately suspicious since Friends of the Park is a non-profit agency that is tax exempt.

She called the IRS who informed her this is a scam.

"They said sometimes with things like this when you click on the link, it goes to a form to fill out and they get all your personal information for identity theft. They also said that sometimes it is just a virus when the link is clicked," Gorrell said.

The letter reads, "After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $92.50. Please submit the tax refund request and allow us 6-9 days in order to process it. A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons. For example submitting invalid records or applying after the deadline. To access the form for your tax refund, please 'click here'."

The email is from "Internal Revenue Service" with the email address being service@irs.g0v (notice the zero in place of an 'o').

Whenever suspicious, official-looking emails like this surface, it is best to open your web browser and type in the address to the page originally visited.

Do not follow links in emails, or simply copy and paste the address from one.