It is important to know that the IRS never sends unsolicited e-mails to taxpayers.
These e-mails may look exactly like it might be coming from the IRS; however, the IRS never requests information over the internet to confirm social security numbers, bank account numbers or credit card information. Be very suspicious, try to determine if the e-mail is coming from another entity. When non government or financial institutes purport to be either the government or financial institutes they are phishing.
If you are not sure if this is a legitimate e-mail check the reply address, if it does not appear to have the government name and .gov, or the financial institute’s name, or you are still not sure you should check with (call) the IRS, the government agency or financial institution that supposedly sent the e-mail. Do not use the telephone numbers in the e-mail; check the yellow pages yourself.
The IRS telephone number is (800) 829-1040. This phone number can be found in any telephone book or IRS office.
Your personal identity is too valuable and every effort should be made to keep it private.
Other places to look for information relating to Phishing are:
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) How Not to Get Hooked by a ‘Phishing’ Scam
Recognize phishing scams and fraudulent e-mails -Microsoft report
If you want to learn more about phishing scams, perform a search the web “phishing”.