With the tax season comes a slew of online tax scammers. And Symantec researchers have detected some particularly good ones out there right now.

As of late, spammers have disguised themselves as IRS agents alerting users to "new laws" or offering particularly lucrative refunds -- that is once they enter their credit card and other personal information onto their sites.

In one such example, the attacker indicates that a new law has been passed that requires users to download tax software.

While the URL appears to be from a legitimate, governmental source (irs.gov/softwareupdate), tax payers find out differently when they click on the link that redirects them to an IP address hosting a virus.

The text reads something like this:

Dear Tax Payer, As part of new requirements from the IRS, all U.S. Citizens are required by law to update their computers with new tax software.

To begin the update, please visit irs.gov/softwareupdate and click "Open" when asked to begin the download.

After doing so, no further action is required on your part.

Thank you for your cooperation.

Sincerely, IRS.GOV

But visit the irs.gov/softwareupdate, and you'll be treated to error alert telling you that the "requested page does not exist."

Plus this message assumes that everyone needs a computer in which to download "software" in order to do their taxes in the first place. Of course, that's absurd. Computer or no, the IRS is very unforgiving to those who don't pay their taxes.

Another example exploits the popular tax software program TurboTax, where the spammer once again asks the unsuspecting victim to download software updates to comply with new tax laws.

The body reads something like this:

Dear TurboTax User, Due to changes in IRS requirements, we are requiring all TurboTax users to update their software to the current version.

The process takes less than 30 seconds, and is done complety in the background.

To begin the update, please visit turbotax.com/update and click 'open" when asked to begin the download.

After doing so, no further action is required on your part.

Thank you for your cooperation regarding this matter.

Sincerely, TurboTax Customer Support

According to Symantec, this scam is a little easier to detect. For one, the e-mail address in the "From" line does not look like it originates from TurboTax. "You must ask yourself: 'Why would a legitimate company use fannyxxx@turbotax.cn and 'Why is TurboTax sending me something from the .cn domain?'" the blog reads.

Also, instead of the official TurboTax site, users will find that the URL delivers you to a blank page with a pop up that asks you to download a mystery file. Upon doing so, you'll get the same error message saying "We cannot find the page your requested."

Because people are naturally jumpy about the IRS -- especially if anything goes wrong -- experts say that taxes are an area that attackers can easily exploit. Indeed, scammers are more than willing to capitalize on users' healthy fear of the government agency. And tax time is painful enough without being exposed to a virus or information stealing botnet.

Remember, when in doubt, don't. Security experts suggest that individuals avoid downloading any form of tax software unless they are absolutely sure it comes from a trusted source, even if that source looks legitimate. Even then, a healthy dose of skepticism never hurt anyone.