Scammers sending fake emails pretending they are from Attorney General Nessel

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has had her name attached to an Internal Revenue Service scam and as a result is reissuing a warning to residents of the state to exercise caution when answering phone calls or opening emails from strangers, in order to avoid becoming victims of fraud.

A scammer is sending emails from a fake email address purported to belong to Nessel. The emails offer Nessel’s help to prevent scammers from attempting to steal the email recipient’s tax refund.

However, the emails themselves are a scam, written by an actual scammer. The scammer goes so far as to include the following text in the emails: “Are you dealing with scammers? If so, kindly get back to me with the letter whereas, scammers are going to cost a huge amount of debt that you can’t even complete it through your entire living.”

The emails contain broken English, grammatical errors and are being sent from a Gmail account rather than an official state or federal email address.

Nessel wants members of the public to know that the IRS will never demand immediate payment, demand payment without any chance to appeal or dispute the amount due, threaten to have you arrested, require payment in the form of a gift card, pre-paid debit card, or wire transfer, or call, text or email you to ask for personal information.

“Each year at tax time, bad actors appear out of the woodwork to scam hard-working consumers out of their tax refund. Remember, government agencies rarely ask for personal information by phone or email. These calls and emails should be reported immediately,” Nessel said.

To file a complaint with the department of Attorney General, contact the Michigan Consumer Protection Team by calling toll free at 877-765-8388 or visiting michigan.gov/consumerprotection