The Internal Revenue Service has issued a warning about the upcoming tax rebates checks and criminals intent on committing credit identity theft. There seems to be new scams popping up very rapidly since the announcement of the pending tax rebate checks.

Identity theft criminals are using the telephone and e-mail to impersonate the Internal Revenue Service and steal your identity. In recent weeks, a large number of consumers in all parts of the US have received phone calls from people who are impersonating IRS employees. The person making the calls is trying to steal your identity by claiming that you are eligible for a decent sized tax rebate for filing your taxes early. They then ask for your banking information so that they rebate can be direct deposited. In reality, they are planning on committing identity theft.

Also very common is an email claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service stating that the tax payer is eligible for a tax refund of a specific amount. The recipient is asked to click on a link in the email which takes them to a website asking for all sorts of personal information. Again, this is an attempt to commit identity theft.

The Internal Revenue Service does not send unsolicited emails about tax account matters, so you should just ignore any such email. The IRS also does not make phone calls about the upcoming tax rebate. Again, these all are attempts to steal your identity.

If you do fall victim to such an identity theft attempt, the thief will use your personal information to run up charges on credit cards, empty your bank account, apply for new loans and commit other crimes. This is why it is of utmost importance to do everything you can for identity fraud protection.