U.S. Tax Season and Phishing Scams

Yes, I waited until close to the last minute to file our tax returns. Figuring it out both ways, it worked out better for us by filing our return as married/separate.

If you are in the mad scramble to file your return on time, don't fall into any phishing scams. As US-Cert reported today:

"Phishing scams may appear as a tax refund, an offer to assist in filing for a refund, or contain details about fake e-file websites. These messages may appear to be from the IRS and directly ask users for personal information. These messages may also contain a link and instruct the user to follow the link to a website that requests personal information or contains malicious code.

US-CERT encourages users to take the following measures to protect themselves from this type of phishing scam:

• Do not follow unsolicited web links in email messages.
• Maintain up-to-date antivirus software.
• Refer to the IRS website related to phishing, email, and bogus website scams for scam samples and reporting information.
• Refer to the Recognizing and Avoiding Email Scams (pdf) document for more information on avoiding email scams.
• Refer to the Avoiding Social Engineering and Phishing Attacks document for more information on social engineering attacks."

Reference: US Tax Season and Phishing Scams



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