The IRS warned this week of a new spate of e-mail and fax scams, involving the Making Work Pay provision of the 2009 economic recovery law; promises of inherited money, lottery winnings and cash consignment; and bogus tax refunds.

Making Work Pay scam. In one type, a phishing e-mail claims to come from the IRS, mentions President Obama and the Making Work Pay provision of the 2009 economic recovery law. It says that there is a refundable credit available to workers, consumers and retirees that can be paid into the recipient’s bank account if the recipient registers their account information with the IRS. The e-mail contains links to register the account and to claim the tax refund.

The IRS says that in reality, most taxpayers receive their Making Work Pay tax credit, which was designed for wage earners, in their paychecks as a result of decreased tax withholding, not as a lump sum distribution from a federal fund. Consumers and retirees who are not wage earners are not eligible for this tax credit.

Form W-8BEN scam. In one other type of fraud, scamsters modify a geniune IRS withholding form, the W-8BEN, e-mail or fax it to recipients, and request it be returned with personal and financial information. "In reality, taxpayers file the genuine Form W-8BEN with their financial institutions, not with the IRS," the agency states. "Additionally, the genuine W-8BEN does not request the taxpayer’s passport number, bank account number, security or similar information."

For details on other scams and on spotting a scam in general, click here. And keep in mind that the only genuine IRS Web site is IRS.gov. All IRS.gov Web page addresses begin with http://www.irs.gov/. Anyone wishing to access the IRS Web site should initiate contact by typing the IRS.gov address into their Internet address window, rather than clicking on a link in an e-mail.