The U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has warned of a fraud campaign in which scammers are impersonating the agency and sending fake IRS letters to cryptocurrency holders in an attempt to steal personal credentials and digital assets.

 

According to the IRS, the fake letters direct unsuspecting recipients to a fraudulent website that closely mimics the official IRS.gov website. Once there, victims are instructed to enrol in a "Digital Asset Compliance Portal" before an urgent deadline.

 

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As part of the enrollment process, the website may ask users for personal information, including cryptocurrency wallet details, exchange account credentials, and other sensitive data that could be used to steal their digital assets.

 

"Criminals continue to exploit public trust in government agencies by creating convincing fake websites and official-looking correspondence," said IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) Chief Jarod Koopman. "Before responding to unexpected requests for personal information, stop, verify the source, and report potential fraud schemes to law enforcement."

 

Regarding the identities of those behind the campaign, the IRS said in a press release that Coinbase and its cyber intelligence partner, Dark Tower, traced the campaign's infrastructure to a domain registered through a Hong Kong registrar, while the fraudulent website was hosted in Romania.

 

The IRS also outlined several measures to help cryptocurrency holders stay safe, including exercising caution when responding to unsolicited letters, emails, text messages, and phone calls from individuals whose identities cannot be verified.

 

The IRS remains one of the most frequently impersonated U.S. government agencies by scammers. According to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, victims reported losses exceeding $114 million from IRS impersonation scams between 2013 and mid-2020.