By Carin Holmes
Assistant News Editor

KU has not been impacted by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) impersonation scam that was announced by the IRS on March 30. 

The IRS warned university students and staff nationwide that educational institutions are being targeted by an IRS impersonation scam.

“I am not aware of any students from KU notifying the help desk regarding the IRS Impersonation Scam,” said KU Chief Information Technology Officer Troy Vingom in an email to The Keystone. 

The warning came after weeks of the IRS receiving complaints from people with emails that end in “.edu.” The scam uses subject lines such as “Tax Refund Payment” and “Recalculation of your tax refund payment,” and asks recipients to click on a link to claim their refund.

The form at the link asks recipients for personal information, such as their full name, Social Security number, driver’s license number, address and more. 

The IRS warning says that both public and private colleges and universities as well as for-profit and nonprofit colleges and universities are being targeted by the impersonation scam.

The IRS warning says that individuals who believe they have received a scam email should not click on the link and they should forward the email to phishing@irs.gov. 

The IRS warning advises that individuals who may have clicked on the link should obtain an Identity Protection PIN here, which is a six-digit number that helps prevent identity thieves from filing fraudulent tax returns in the victim’s name .