SANS ISC: Brazilian Tax Season

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SANS ISC InfoSec Forums

Just some words of warning that we're passing along from one of our friends south of the equator: It's "IRS season" in Brazil.

With the tax season deadline of April 30th approaching, any emails that you receive with "imposto de renda", "receita federal", or requests for your CPF (Brazilian SSN) is more than likely malware.

FYI, the real URLs for the Brazilian "IRS" are:

http://www.receita.fazenda.gov.br/
http://www.receita.fazenda.gov.br/PessoaFisica/Declara2007Informa1.htm

The same warning applies to US residents: be VERY wary of any email claiming to be from the IRS.  Never, EVER send any personal financial information in email.  Never, EVER trust a link in an email that claims to be from the IRS or a financial institution.  (The upshot is this: If you're going to be careless with your life savings, then let's expedite the process-- simply bundle all of the nice engraved pictures of presidents that you have in your wallet carefully together and send them to me for safekeeping... let me know when you need 'em back...)