July 20, 2021

Cybercriminals are trying to capitalize on the latest round of IRS child tax credit payments by creating a network of related websites aimed at getting people to enter their personal information while pretending to be associated with the child tax credits.

According to the DomainTools report, this scam is aimed at those who are not aware that payments are made automatically and do not require any personal data on websites.

The fake pages resemble government websites that detail the payment and ask users to “apply now.”

A page called “reliefcarefunds [.] com.” even went so far as to ask for names, addresses, social security numbers, photos of driving licenses and even the mother’s maiden name.

While the site was linked to “americaforgivenrelieffund [.] com,” DomainTools, after a careful investigation was able to trace the two sites and 39 other domains to an email address: goldenwaves247 @ gmail [.] com, registered in Ibadan, Nigeria.

For more information, read the original story in ZDNet.