Identity theft by people posing as the Internal Revenue Service is on the rise. Hundreds of thousands of emails purporting to be from the IRS have been sent to targets, asking readers to go to a site that mimics the look of the IRS site. They are then asked to give sensitive personal financial information.

The IRS says that the phishers are generally people outside the U.S., and that they have confirmed 12 websites in 18 different countries using a scam like this.

The IRS is directing taxpayers to a page on the REAL IRS website, which gives information on the scams.