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If you got an e-mail from the IRS right after you filed your tax returns, you might logically have thought it was real. But maybe not. The feds say "phishing," or identity theft, is rising. This is a good story to alert folks to. Here is the IRS page on this issue. 

The Associated Press reports:

IRS and Treasury Department officials have noticed an increase this winter in the frequency and sophistication of "phishing" schemes that use the tax agency's logo to lure victims.

"There does seem to be a proliferation of them this filing season," Richard Morgante, commissioner of the IRS wage and investment division, said Monday. "We have more thieves trying to take advantage of the filing season than we've seen in the past."

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, which investigates groups or individuals impersonating the IRS, found 12 separate Web sites hosting such "phishing" schemes operating in 11 different countries, from the United States to Aruba to Korea.

In a "phishing" scam, identity thieves send e-mail masquerading as official communication from a government agency, bank or other institution in an attempt to solicit personal data from victims. The data could include financial account numbers, passwords, credit card numbers or other information.

The thieves use the information to steal a person's identity and commit financial crimes, like using the victim's credit cards or opening new ones, applying for loans or filing fraudulent tax returns.

"Phishing" e-mails purporting to come from the IRS often tell taxpayers they're due a refund and direct them to a false IRS Web site. The e-mail address may include "irs.gov," such as tax-refunds@irs.gov or admin@irs.gov.

The communication and Web sites might look like the real thing, but they're not, Mr. Morgante said. The IRS does not communicate with taxpayers via e-mail, nor does the IRS ask people for passwords, personal identification numbers or other secret information about financial accounts.

Newsfactor.com also has a story. 

Open-Records Sites of the Day

As part of my observance of Sunshine Week, I want to pass along these outstanding open-records sites compiled for the American Library Association's reference section. 

Annual Reports for Investors: Annual reports are accessible in their original formats. The user can search by company name, ticker symbol, industry, or sector. There is also an alphabetical index of all companies providing reports. All reports are free, and no registration is required.

BRB Publications Free Resource Center: More than just a directory to free public records searching, the Free Resource Center also provides links to articles to assist users in public record searches. In addition, the "Public Record Newsroom" lists current items in the news relating to public records of all types.

Construction Weblinks: Public Records: This is a directory of mostly free Web sites to help the user learn different types of information about specific companies in the United States. Web sites are arranged alphabetically and include bankruptcy data, earnings reports, pending litigation, and license suspensions.

EDGAR: The Electronic Data Gathering, Analysis, and Retrieval system of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission organizes all corporate information that companies are required to submit to the SEC. Records users can access here include quarterly reports, registration forms, and other miscellaneous filings from 1996 to the present. All records on EDGAR are free with no registration required.

NETROnline: This directory links the user with the appropriate website for a particular state or county office, depending on the type of records they require. Its strength is the property assessment records for both business and residential properties.

Pretrieve: This resource serves as a gateway to services on hundreds of websites that provide public records free of charge. Searches can be conducted by personal name, business name, address, or telephone number. For businesses, it provides financial, legal, trade-related, and research records, many as scanned images of originals. The user can view property records and even satellite imagery of both business and residential properties.

Public Records Finder: Both business and personal public records are indexed in this comprehensive database. Nationwide searching is available, broken down by categories including business records, corporate tax forms, legal research resources, and professional licensing information.

Securities Class Action Clearinghouse: This database organizes all federal class action lawsuits from 1996 to the present. It provides the user with full text reports of all filings and complaints relating to each case. The database is indexed chronologically by file date, alphabetically by company name, and geographically by court of appeals.

State and Local Government Web Site Index: Perhaps the most comprehensive online directory to government websites, this index provides the user with links to every department website imaginable for each level of government. The user is brought one step closer to the public records sought by being connected with the appropriate government agency, from statewide offices to the smallest branch of a city or township.

Bird Flu: New Concerns

News this week that Cameroon is the newest country where bird flu has shown up is heightening fears that it is only a matter of time before it shows up in the United States. This month, many states are holding special conferences to discuss how they would react to a widespread outbreak.

Here are the planned meetings and conferences, according to the Department of Health and Human Services:

State Summits:

March 17: Pittsburgh

March 17: Chicago

March 20: Washington, D.C.

March 21: Raleigh, N.C.

March 23: St. Thomas, Virgin Islands

March 23: Richmond, Va.

March 23: West Lafayette, Ind.

March 24: San Juan, Puerto Rico

March 24: Denver

March 24: Layton, Utah

March 27: Austin

March 27: Boise, Idaho

March 28: Albuquerque, N.M.

March 29: Oklahoma

March 30: Portland, Ore.

March 30: Los Angeles

State-by-State Pandemic Information:

Each state page contains information about the state's pandemic plan, summit materials, formal agreements and other pandemic planning information. They also contain historic information about the 1918 pandemic flu's impact upon the state, as well as links to the state Web site pandemic information.

Select a state link to view state and local pandemic planning information.

ABC News has been running a special series of stories on the bird flu.

The BBC has a great resource page, which includes a multimedia map showing the spread of bird flu worldwide over time.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization both have mega-pages that will help you think about coverage and issues. Since January 2004, WHO has reported human cases of avian influenza A (H5N1) in the following countries:

• Cambodia
• China
• Indonesia
• Thailand
• Vietnam
• Turkey
• Iraq

And this is from the CDC:

Individual Planning

At the risk of adding one more thing for you to worry about, the feds have a checklist online for what individual families should know and do in the event of a pandemic. Running in circles and screaming is not on the list -- but I think it is sort of implied.