A measure that states firearms made and kept in Oklahoma are not subject to federal law won easy approval Tuesday in the House of Representatives.

House Bill 2994 makes firearms, accessories and ammunition made and sold in Oklahoma exempt from federal regulation.

Rep. Ryan Kiesel, D-Seminole, questioned whether a state could assert authority over interstate commerce, one of the powers listed in the U.S. Constitution as a function of the federal government.

Kiesel said the measure could result in the state’s having to develop a registry of guns made in Oklahoma to keep track of the weapons, a proposal that most Oklahoma gun owners would find troubling.

Rep. John Enns, R-Enid, author of HB 2994, said his measure would apply only to guns made in Oklahoma. The guns must be clearly marked “Made in Oklahoma,” he said.

Anyone who took one of these firearms out of state could face criminal charges, he said.

With a representative from the National Rifle Association watching from the gallery, House members voted 89-8 in favor of the bill. HB 2994 now goes to the Senate.

Kiesel said those voting in support of the measure did so for political purposes in hopes of getting approval ratings from gun groups as well as possibly campaign contributions and support.

Enns said the Second Amendment guarantees the right of Americans to keep and bear arms, and further asserted that the federal government doesn’t have jurisdiction over firearms and their accessories when they are manufactured and used within a state.

Oklahoma appears to be prying loose from the grip the recession has had on its economy, state Treasurer Scott Meacham said Tuesday.

State revenue collections in February exceeded the estimate for the first time since December 2008, Meacham said.

“What we’re seeing now appears to be signs that we’ve hit the bottom, and now we’re starting to climb back up a little bit,” he said. “We’re starting to see the very first signs of what has been the longest, deepest downturn in state revenue history may be finally starting to bottom out and end.”

Collections still fell short of previous-year collections for February but not as drastic as in recent months. Tax collections for a few months in 2009 were more than 20 percent below the estimate or last year’s income.

The revenue shortfall caused state finance officials to order what will average to be an additional 7.5 percent across-the-board cuts to most Oklahoma agencies since August and will continue through June.

“What we think we’re seeing is that we’re just past the bottom,” Meacham said. “The bottom probably occurred … somewhere in the fourth quarter for Oklahoma.”

Meacham said he’s encouraged by an increase in individual income tax collections during February and a drop in the state’s unemployment rate.

Oklahoma’s unemployment hit a high of 7.3 percent in October but has been improving since.

December’s rate was 6.6 percent; January’s figures are to be released today.

“We’re expecting to see that trend continue,” Meacham said.

“Initial surveys of employers’ intentions all look positive.”

Personal income tax collections for February were 35 percent above the amount collected in February 2009 and 217 percent higher than the estimate.

Legislative leaders were cautious. Legislators have about $1.2 billion less to spend this session compared with a year ago.

“Agencies are currently facing significant additional cuts if revenue projections prove true,” said House Speaker Chris Benge, R-Tulsa.

Senate President Pro Tempore Glenn Coffee, R-Oklahoma City, said, “We are still well below where we need to be, and we will plan accordingly as we move through the process.”

Oil tax revenue provides a boost
Preliminary reports show general revenue fund collections in February are $220.6 million.

That amount is $17.3 million, or 7.3 percent, below last year, but $800,000, or 0.4 percent, above the estimate.

That’s a dramatic improvement over December’s collections, which were about 30 percent below last year and 31 percent below the estimate.

February revenue collections are historically the lowest of the year because income tax refunds are paid out, Meacham said.

Collections were, as expected, not sufficient to fund allocations to state agencies for the month even with the previously announced 10 percent across-the-board reductions to agencies.

In addition to available general revenue fund cash, an additional $84.8 million had to be tapped from other funds to make the $321.1 million monthly allocation, according to the treasurer’s office.

So far, the state has borrowed about $290 million from various funds, all of which has to be repaid by the end of the fiscal year.

Gross production taxes on oil are providing a much-needed boost in revenue collections, Meacham said.

The first $150 million in oil gross production collections each fiscal year is used to fill three education-related funds.

After that, the majority of the revenue goes to the general revenue fund.

“We received $25 million in gross production taxes on oil in February, while the official estimate anticipated no oil gross production taxes would be deposited to the general revenue fund for the entire fiscal year,” he said.

Tomatoes are at a premium right now due to a shortage in Florida, but many say the higher prices are temporary.

Typically, Oklahoma’s tomato planting season begins in mid-April and the crops begin to ripen in June.

And some local restaurants aren’t skimping because of the shortage or price increase.

Nationwide, some restaurants are only providing tomatoes if customers request them. But two locally based chains — Braum’s Ice Cream and Dairy Stores and Sonic drive-in — continue to provide tomatoes as usual.

“We’re paying a little more for them,” said Braum’s spokesman Terry Holden. “But we’re still putting tomatoes on hamburgers.”

He said serving a burger with lettuce and tomato is “part of what we do” and tomatoes would have to become unavailable for that to stop.

Sonic is evaluating the tomato supply week-by-week, and as of Tuesday, was still automatically providing tomatoes to customers, said Christi Woodworth, a Sonic spokeswoman.

“It is possible that the supply could become so limited that tomatoes will not be reasonably available to Sonic,” she added.

Denise Hawkins, a spokeswoman for Buy for Less grocery stores, said she doesn’t expect a shortage of tomatoes in stores but customers are paying higher prices. A case of tomatoes now costs $1 to $2 more, she said.

The grocer’s suppliers expect prices to return to normal by mid-April, Hawkins said.

Florida, the main U.S. source for tomatoes during the winter months, lost 70 percent of its crop during January’s freeze. As a result, many retailers are turning to Mexican tomatoes to stock store shelves.

Meanwhile, local farmers markets have some greenhouse tomatoes available.

Robert Stelle, owner of Sunrise Acresin Blanchard, said he sold out of tomatoes last weekend at the Oklahoma State University-Oklahoma City Farmer’s Market.

“We’ve grown them every year and we usually don’t have trouble selling them,” he said.

News of the Florida crop didn’t come early enough for local farmers to ramp up greenhouse production, said Charlene Perry, a vendor at the Norman Farm Market, which opens April 3.

And many farmers have stopped growing tomatoes in the winter because of the expense of keeping them warm, she said.

Contributing: The Associated Press

LOS ANGELES — For parents who were holding out hope that scientists would someday vindicate “Baby Einstein” DVDs and other so-called educational videos aimed at the age 2 and younger set, a leading pediatric journal has bad news: The DVDs do not help 1-year-olds learn words emphasized during the programs.

Researchers at the University of California at Riverside tested the vocabularies of 88 children ages 12 months to 24 months. Half of them were asked to watch “Baby Wordsmith” — part of Disney’s “Baby Einstein” series — at home for six weeks. The 35-minute video highlights 30 common words for household objects.

When the researchers compared the two groups, they found no difference in their general language knowledge as measured by words spoken, words understood, and correctly identifying pictures. Children who spent the most hours watching “Baby Wordsmith” fared no better than children who didn’t watch it at all.

As the researchers put it: “Other than the general gains in word knowledge attributable to time and age, children who viewed the DVD at home over six weeks did not demonstrate new knowledge of the DVD-highlighted words.”

But it’s not as if the videos had zero effect. The university team found that the younger a child was the first time he or she watched any “Baby Einstein” video, the lower his or her overall language score.

The study was published in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

The videos seem like a great idea, and who wouldn’t want to believe that plopping their tots in front of the television could actually be good for them? Unfortunately, science has failed to substantiate this view.

In fact, previous studies find the videos can be harmful. A 2007 study in the Journal of Pediatrics found “for every hour a day that babies 8 (months old) to 16 months old were shown such popular series as ‘Brainy Baby’ or ‘Baby Einstein,’ they knew six to eight fewer words than other children.”

Last year, the Walt Disney Co. all but acknowledged that the videos were educationally worthless when it agreed to take back the videos in exchange for a refund of $15.99. That program ended last week.

McClatchy-Tribune Information Services

LAVERNE — A Woodward teenager died Monday after a head-on collision with a tractor-trailer rig in Harper County, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol reported.

Jose Medrano, 17, died at the scene of the accident about 11:15 p.m. on U.S. Highway 270, about five miles west of Laverne.

Investigators said Medrano was driving west when his pickup moved into the eastbound lane and crashed head-on into a rig driven by Christopher Morrell-Cookson, 36, of Hooker.

Morrell-Cookson was not injured, but the impact caused the rig to catch fire and burn, the OHP reported.

Merano was not wearing a seat belt.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Jeff Capel’s Sooners strolled onto the Sprint Center floor late for their allotted 40-minute practice time Wednesday.

“Bus driver got lost,” Capel said. “That’s the kind of year we’ve had.”

No holes in that theory. Late and lost. The 13-17 Sooners either started slow or faded fast. They’ve lost eight straight games; lose Bedlam today in the Big 12 Tournament and OU has its longest hoops losing streak in 45 years.

And Capel never saw it coming. Never saw this team and these high hopes collapsing into a morass of injury and apathy, ineptness and anarchy. Never imagined he couldn’t turn this ballteam into something he could stand to live with.

“You always think, maybe you can have success,” Capel said.

But you don’t always know what you’ve recruited. Don’t always know if the new guys will mesh with the old guys. Don’t always know if your freshmen will make it to practice or play hard or keep their hands off the shirts at Dillard’s.

“Recruiting is not an exact science,” Capel said. “Every kid you get is a roll of the dice. You hope you’re right.”

Here’s the goofy thing. Capel’s four freshmen all can play, offense at least. Tommy Mason-Griffin is a future star. Tiny Gallon could be. Andrew Fitzgerald and Steven Pledger have been solid with the ball.

But listen up, all summer league studs. Basketball is more than what you can do with the ball in your hands. You’ve got to be accountable and responsible — all four freshmen have been disciplined by Capel for off-court infractions this year — and playing a little defense doesn’t hurt, either.

Even with the citizenship failures, these Sooners would have struggled, because they haven’t guarded much of anybody.

“We’ve been bad this year,” Capel said. “One thing I thought we’d be pretty good on is defense. We haven’t. We’ve been bad.

“Those guys have never played defense. Never learned how to … do other things besides score. A lot of them have never been asked to play defense.”

Welcome to 21st-century college basketball. Analyze players, judge players, recruits players, then pray they’ll listen to instructions on things like defending and giving maximum effort, which are not staples of the summer circuit.

Capel said such evaluations are “certainly harder to do in an AAU setting, but I don’t want to give AAU a bad name. Kids are different now, the way they look at things.”

Of course, such calamities happened in the previous century. Capel played on one such squad, the 1994-95 Duke Blue Devils. Capel was a Final Four point guard the previous season as a freshman, but Duke went a disastrous 13-18 when he was a sophomore. Yep, the same record the Sooners will fashion with a loss tonight.

Capel said that season and this season have cratered for many of the same reasons, though he wouldn’t go into detail.

“As a player, I felt I had a little more control,” Capel said. “It’s frustrating. Some things you can’t control. You can’t control injuries. So many things off the floor.

“I can’t be with those guys 24 hours a day. I don’t want to be with those guys 24 hours a day. They don’t want to be with me 24 hours a day.”

Capel at times this season has expressed anger and dismay. But Wednesday, he turned philosophical.

“Eighteen- , 21-year-old guys, they make mistakes,” Capel said. “And when you’re a student-athlete, those mistakes are magnified.

“They’re all lessons. Sometimes you have to fail to learn. I’ve certainly failed. It’s made me a better man. This is going to make me a better coach.”

Sounds good to Soonerville. Warm up the bus.

Slaughter cattle trade in the Five Major Marketing Areas, Texas/Oklahoma;
Kansas; Nebraska; Colorado; Iowa/Minnesota: Thus far for Tuesday, trading of
negotiated cash, beef type, steers and heifers has been at a standstill in all
major feeding regions. Not enough sales to establish an adequate market test.
Steers: Live basis; (all Grades: 0 head). Dressed Basis; (all Grades: 40 head)
143.00. Heifers: Live Basis; (all Grades: 0 head). Dressed Basis; (all Grades:
0 head).

Auction markets:

Dunlap, IA Slaughter Cattle Auction 03/09/2010
Receipts: 550 Last Week: 560
Compared to last week steers and heifers were .50 higher.
Slaughter Steers: Choice 2-4: 1176-1433 lbs 87.75-90.25. Select and Choice
2-3: 1090-1225 lbs 84.00-87.00.
Slaughter Heifers: Choice 2-4: 1123-1338 lbs 88.00-91.00. Select and Choice
2-3: 966-1286 lbs 84.00-87.50. Select 2-3: 950-1120 lbs 80.00-83.50.

CATTLE Slaughter under Federal Inspection
Tuesday (est) 123,000
Week ago (est) 120,000
Year ago (act) 123,000
Week to date (est) 243,000
Same Period Last Week (est) 242,000
Same Period Last Year (act) 241,000

USDA ESTIMATED BOXED BEEF CUT-OUT VALUES
CHOICE SELECT
600-900 600-900
——————————————————————————–
Current Cutout Values: 149.50 149.02
Change from prior day: 0.21 0.91
——————————————————————————–
Choice/Select spread: 0.49

Total Load Count (Cuts, Trimmings, Grinds): 227
——————————————————————————–

CME Futures Closes for LIVE CATTLE:
Month Close Change Month Close Change
Apr 94.40 + .20 Oct 93.15 – .12
Jun 92.32 + .05 Dec 94.92 – .27
Aug 90.75 – .10 Feb 95.97 – .40

Auction Markets:

New Holland Sales Stables
Compared to last Monday`s sale, slaughter cows sold 1.00-2.00 lower with
moderate demand.
Slaughter Cows:
Percent Lean Avg. Dressing High Dressing Low Dressing
Premium White 65-75 53.00-55.50 ———– ———–
Breakers 75-80 49.50-52.50 ———– 46.00-48.00
Boners 80-85 46.00-49.50 50.00-51.50 42.50-45.00
Lean 85-90 42.00-45.50 46.00-47.50 37.00-41.00

USDA ESTIMATE CUTTER COW CARCASS CUT-OUT VALUE
Cutter 90%
350#/up
——————————————————————————–
Current-Cutout Value: $121.02
Change from prior day: ($0.55)
——————————————————————————–

Oklahoma National Stockyards, Oklahoma City, OK. Close
Actual Receipts: 14,572 Last Monday: 12,765 Year Ago Monday: 12,126
Compared to last week: Markets improved late in the day. Feeder steers closed
steady to 2.00 higher. Feeder heifers steady. Stocker steers steady. Stocker
heifers steady to 2.00 higher.
Feeder Steers Medium and Large 1: few 325-400 lbs 140.00-148.00; 400-450 lbs
129.50-134.50; 450-500 lbs 124.50-132.00; few 425-500 lbs value added 126.50-
135.50; 500-550 lbs 118.00-126.00; 550-600 lbs 112.00-119.00; 500-575 lbs value
added 117.00-122.00; 600-650 lbs 108.25-115.75, 610 lbs thin 117.00; 650-700 lbs
102.75-111.25; 700-750 lbs 100.75-107.50; 750-800 lbs 97.50-105.00; 800-850 lbs
95.50-99.75; 850-900 lbs 94.75-97.25; 900-1000 lbs 90.75-95.25; 1000-1050 lbs
91.00-92.75. Medium and Large 1-2: 300-350 lbs 140.00-146.50; 375-400 lbs
134.00-136.00; 425-500 lbs 127.00-129.50; 500-550 lbs 112.50-121.50; 550-600 lbs
109.00-115.25; 500-575 lbs thin 118.25-126.50; 600-650 lbs 104.75-110.50,
thin 111.75; 650-700 lbs 102.00-106.75; 700-750 lbs 100.00-104.00; 750-800 lbs
96.50-101.50; 800-900 lbs 93.75-98.75; 945 lbs 94.75. Medium and Large 2: 400-
450 lbs 121.50-131.50; 450-500 lbs 115.00-126.50; 500-550 lbs 105.00-118.50, 500
lbs thin 127.00; 550-600 lbs 104.75-115.50; 600-700 lbs 100.00-111.50; 700-800
lbs 93.25-102.00; 800-900 lbs 93.75-97.50; 900-950 lbs 89.25-92.50.
Feeder Heifers Medium and Large 1: 375-400 lbs 113.00-118.50; 400-500 lbs
108.00-114.50; 500-550 lbs 106.00-113.00; 550-600 lbs 103.00-109.50; 600-650 lbs
97.50-105.00; 650-700 lbs 94.00-102.00; 700-750 lbs 92.50-97.50; 750-800 lbs
91.00-94.00; 800-900 lbs 87.75-91.75; 900-975 lbs 88.25-90.50. Medium and Large
1-2: 400-500 lbs 108.00-111.25; 500-600 lbs 101.50-109.50; 600-650 lbs 97.00-
103.75; 650-700 lbs 94.00-98.00; 700-800 lbs 90.00-96.50; 800-900 lbs 85.50-
90.00; 995 lbs 86.50. Medium and Large 2: 300-400 lbs 105.00-113.00; 400-500
lbs 102.00-108.00, thin 108.00-115.25; 500-550 lbs 102.00-107.25; 550-600 lbs
99.00-103.25; 600-700 lbs 90.00-98.50; 700-800 lbs 87.00-94.50; 800-875 lbs
85.50-90.00; 900-975 lbs 84.75-86.00.

CME Future Closes for FEEDER CATTLE
Month Close Change Month Close Change
Mar 102.35 – .17 Aug 108.87 – .25
Apr 106.02 + .02 Sep 108.10 – .37
May 106.60 – .02 Oct 107.90 – .30

HOGS

Direct Trade: Carcass Basis: based on 185 lbs hog carcass with 0.9-1.1 inch
back fat and 6 inch square loin/2.0 inch depth plant delivered. National
direct trade barrows and gilts were .11 lower with prices ranging from 63.00-
77.00, weighted average price 72.81. Iowa-Minnesota was 0.32 higher at 63.00-
77.00, weighted average price 73.86. Western Cornbelt sold .24 higher at
63.00-77.00, weighted average price 73.75 and Eastern Cornbelt was 0.58 lower at
64.50-72.97, weighted average price 70.33.

Live Basis (240-280 lbs): National direct barrows and gilts were 0.09 lower
at 47.46-59.00, weighted average price 57.13. Iowa-Minnesota was 0.05 lower at
50.84-59.00, weighted average 58.01. Western Cornbelt was 0.05 lower at 50.84-
59.00, weighted average price 57.90. Eastern Cornbelt was .53 lower at 47.46-
58.00, weighted average price 55.66.

USDA ESTIMATED PORK CARCASS CUTOUT
Calculations for a 200 lb Pork Carcass
53-54% lean, 0.65″-0.80″ backfat at last rib
———————————————————————–
Total Today’s Primal Cutout Values
Date Loads Carcass Loin Butt Pic Rib Ham Belly
———————————————————————–
03/09 94.38 74.60 86.82 68.79 54.56 114.16 73.16 88.64
Change : -0.12 0.86 -0.64 1.79 -1.31 -1.03 unc
———————————————————————–

HOG Slaughter under Federal Inspection
Tuesday (est) 402,000
Week ago (est) 432,000
Year ago (act) 418,000
Week to date (est) 811,000
Same Period Last Week (est) 861,000
Same Period Last Year (act) 837,000

CME Futures Closes for LEAN HOGS:
Month Close Change Month Close Change
Apr 72.40 – .40 Jul 80.72 – 1.07
May 77.92 – .87 Aug 80.25 – 1.15
Jun 80.47 – .97 Oct 71.10 – .85

SHEEP

Auction Markets:

New Holland Sheep and Goat Weighted Average for Monday, March 08, 2010
Sheep/Lamb Receipts: 1377 Last Week: 1093 Year Ago: 1493
Compared to last Monday’s sale, slaughter lambs sold 6.00 to 8.00 higher on a
light test.
Slaughter Lambs: Wooled & Shorn Choice and Prime 2-3 40-60 lbs 170.00-
188.00; 60-80 lbs 158.00-178.00; 80-90 lbs 155.00-174.00; 90-110 lbs 154.00-
172.00; 110-130 lbs 148.00-165.00; 130-150 lbs 138.00-154.00. Choice 2-3 50-60
lbs 150.00-162.00; 60-80 lbs 133.00-156.00; 90-110 lbs 118.00-134.00; 110-130
lbs 108.00-130.00.

NATIONAL DAILY LAMB CARCASS REPORT

NATIONAL DAILY LAMB CARCASS REPORT

Negotiated sales for delivery within 14 calendar days,
FOB Plant basis.

DAILY CHOICE AND PRIME, YG 1-4 Head 1,481

Weight Head Wt Avg
45-DN 44 385.09
45-55# 57 294.29
55-65# 186 240.55
65-75# 471 224.97
75-85# 555 220.31
85-UP 168 217.07

SHEEP Slaughter under Federal Inspection
Tuesday (est) 10,000
Week ago (est) 10,000
Year ago (act) 9,000
Week to date (est) 21,000
Same Period Last Week (est) 19,000
Same Period Last Year (act) 18,000

GOATS

Auction Markets:

New Holland, PA.
Goat Receipts: 2545 Last Week: 1497 Year Ago: 1181
A heavy supply of goats on offer for this Mondays sale. Compared to last
Monday’s sale, slaughter kids sold steady to slightly weaker.
Slaughter Kids: Selection 1 40-60 lbs 86.00-108.00; 60-80 lbs 107.00-
130.00; 80-100 lbs 128.00-150.00; 100-120 lbs 132.00-152.00. Selection 2 40-60
lbs 62.00-82.00; 60-80 lbs 82.00-100.00; 80-90 lbs 94.00-108.00; 90-100 lbs
108.00-116.00.

Source: USDA-TX Dept of Ag Market News, Amarillo, TX

Highs in the lower 40s with lows in the upper 20s.

This fiscal year has been a bear for Oklahoma, with the governor and legislative leaders having to figure out a way to patch a deficit exceeding half a billion dollars. Next fiscal year will be bruising, too — estimates are for a budget deficit in the $1 billion range. The year after that?

I’s a safe guess fiscal year 2012 will require more patches and stop-gaps to make ends meet and allow the government to meet its obligations. Full economic recovery may be several years away.

Meantime, lurking for Oklahoma (and most other states) is a state retirement system that recently was recognized as being one of the most underfunded in the country. The Pew Center on the States gave Oklahoma a score of zero on a pension grading system. Seven other states received the same score.

Nationwide, the gap between the amount of money states had on hand for employees’ retirement benefits and the amount they need to meet those obligations was $1 trillion at the end of 2008. Oklahoma’s pension plans were only funded to 61 percent, according to the Pew report. That’s a far cry from the 80 percent experts prefer. Unfunded liability was 219 percent of payroll for the seven state-administered pension systems.

“Oklahoma’s management of its long-term pension liability is cause for serious concern and the state needs to improve how it handles its retiree health care and other benefit obligations,” the report said.

Pew said the 61 percent figure from 2008 reflected a decline in investment returns that year, but that “the system has been in poor condition since at least 1997.” The report said Oklahoma increased benefits during the 1980s and ’90s, but contributions weren’t enough to offset liabilities.

“The state has consistently failed to meet its actuarially required contributions, paying no more than 81 percent of the annual bill in any of the past 12 years,” the report scolded. “Meanwhile, Oklahoma has relatively limited long-term liabilities — about $359.8 million — for retiree health care and other benefits. But, like 19 other states, it has failed to set aside any assets to cover these obligations.”

Oklahoma’s got a lot of company. More than half the states had fully funded pension systems in 2000. Six years later, only six did. And by 2008, the number stood at four.

The grade for Oklahoma shouldn’t come as a surprise. Tackling the state’s underfunded pension plans is an issue that surfaces every so often at the Capitol, generating calls for something to be done, and then it recedes as lawmakers turn their concerns to issues related to the here and now.

Yet as the Pew report makes clear, this issue really must be addressed. Our prison guards, teachers, road pavers and social workers aren’t getting any younger.

Nothing is certain but death, taxes and, now, fake IRS refund notices.

An e-mail scam going around shows a copy of the real Internal Revenue Service logo and contains official-sounding language. But odd wording and misspellings suggest something’s awry.

The subject line says: “Notificantion to you about tax refund 2010.”

E-mail scams often contain clues, Oklahoma-based IRS spokesman David Stell said.

“Always a tip-off to those fake e-mails: the perfect spelling and grammar,” Stell said, his voice heavy with sarcasm.

One version of the e-mail continues: “Please note now you can get your tax refund, after the last annual calculation of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $314.79. Please take few minutes to fill your form attached to this message.”

The IRS impersonation e-mail is a half-step up in sophistication from the common e-mails purportedly from an old Nigerian dictator who has chosen to bequeath the reader with his millions, said Peter Terranova, a certified public accountant based in Oklahoma City.

Some of Terranova’s clients have received the fake IRS refund e-mail. One client clicked on it and landed on a page that looks just like an IRS page, he said.

“It was utterly convincing,” he said. “These guys are that good.”

Scammers may try to convince people to send them money. Many scammers try to trick victims into revealing personal and financial information. They’re after credit card numbers and passwords, bank account numbers and passwords, Social Security numbers and more. They sometimes use e-mail or a Web site to introduce a virus to gain the information.

Once they get the information, identity thieves try to steal the person’s financial accounts, run up credit card charges, apply for new loans, file fraudulent tax returns and similar efforts, according to the IRS.

Oklahomans lodged 2,696 complaints of identity theft in 2008, according to Identity Theft Consumer Complaint Data by the Federal Trade Commission. Those were among the nation’s nearly 314,000 complaints, ranging from credit card fraud to government documents fraud to bank fraud, lodged that year, the latest year for which figures are available.

The timing is perfect for opportunistic thieves wielding computer keyboards, said Jane Haskin, CPA and president and chief executive officer of First Bethany Bank and Trust.

Especially in a difficult economy, people having financial problems may be lured by an e-mail indicating they simply need to fill out a form to receive several hundred dollars, she said.

Though FBI Special Agent Gary Johnson hasn’t received the fake IRS refund e-mail, he has received numerous “notices” stating the FBI is aware of purported transactions he made with somebody in Nigeria and these are legitimate transactions. He said he’s also gotten notices of winning some international lotteries, which he’s never entered.

“There’s an inherent human nature for people to want something for nothing. That’s what individuals involved in these types of schemes are preying upon,” Johnson said.

When people fall for these e-mail scams, the money generally ends up overseas, often in countries that are not law enforcement friendly countries, he said.

The best policy is for would-be victims to hit the delete button when a suspicious e-mail pops up, Johnson said.