Phishing e-mail in circulation – alleged tax refund from the Federal Tax Administration
04.06.2012 - The attention of the Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance (MELANI) has been drawn to the fact that phishing e-mails that are apparently from the Federal Tax Administration have been circulated since Monday, 4 June 2012. In the e-mail, recipients are given the prospect of a tax refund. Personal details and credit card information are then requested in the attached HTML form. The HTML page is based locally on the recipient's computer and does not redirect the user to a website. If the form is filled out, the data is sent to a server on which there is a PHP script – probably a mailer – that then forwards the data to the attacker.
If you receive such an e-mail, MELANI recommends not opening the attachment and deleting the e-mail. The Federal Tax Administration never provides information about tax refunds via e-mail and never asks taxpayers to provide personal details or credit card information via e-mail.
Content of the phishing e-mail
View of the attached HTML document