New email scam targets tax preparers
ASSOCIATED PRESS
A new scheme is targeting professional tax preparers about security threats designed to trick them in giving up sensitive information such as passwords, Social Securitynumbers or credit card numbers or to make unnecessary payment of their clients, the Internal Revenue Service said today.
A new scheme is targeting professional tax preparers about security threats designed to trick them in giving up sensitive information such as passwords, Social Security numbers or credit card numbers or to make unnecessary payment of their clients, the Internal Revenue Service said today.
In the new scheme identified as part of the IRS Security Summit process, tax professionals are receiving emails pretending to be from tax software companies. The email scheme requests the recipient to download and install an important software update via a link included in the e-mail.
Once recipients click on the embedded link, they are directed to a website prompting them to download a file appearing to be an update of their software package. The file has a naming convention that uses the actual name of their software followed by an “.exe extension.”
Upon completion, tax professionals believe they have downloaded a software update when in fact they have loaded a program designed to track the tax professional’s key strokes, which is a common tactic used by cyber thieves to steal login information, passwords and other sensitive data.
The IRS urges all tax preparers to take the following steps:
» Be alert for phishing scams: Do not click on links or open attachments contained in e-mails and always utilize a software provider’s main webpage for connecting to them.
» Run a security “deep scan” to search for viruses and malware;
» Strengthen passwords for both computer access and software access; make sure your password is a minimum of 8 digits long (more is better) with a mix of numbers, letters and special characters;
» Educate all staff members about the dangers of phishing scams in the form of emails, texts and calls;
» Review any software that your employees use to remotely access your network and/or your IT support vendor uses to remotely troubleshoot technical problems and support your systems. Remote access software is a potential target for bad actors to gain entry and take control of a machine.
7 responses to “New email scam targets tax preparers”
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Geez, what a world we live in these days. First we have to be aware of email scams, now we have to watch for email scarms?? Man!
“New email scarm targets taxpreparers” What’s a scarm? Gregg Kakesako, I would really suggest you proofread your articles. The past several days, articles with your name attached had typos and grammar that looked very amateurish.
Not only do we have to look out for scammers, we now have to ensure that our tax professionals don’t divulge our info to scammers as well? Pretty sad.
People should always understand what their tax preparers do to protect their clients’ personal information.
Glad mine won’t discuss ANYTHING with anyone over the phone. He once made an IRS Agent come to his office, present valid credentials as well as other pertinent information before releasing paperwork that I had already signed a written release for. 🙂 He’s old school. If the government wants information, they can come and get it. No fax, email or phone conversations.
Yesterday afternoon got a call from Area code 303 purporting to be from the the IRS and for me to call back on the same number. Prior to picking the phone up checked to see where the call originated. The issue is if she had me on the line, why was required to call her back? IRS does not call on a tax deficiency case so am ignoring the call. Pay my estimates on time and know for sure if I have amy delinquencies. Have always paid my taxes so am not worried.
I got a call this morning from a 415 San Francisco area code with a recorded message telling me that the IRS wanted to speak to me about a serious matter regarding my tax return, and that I should call a 202 Washington DC area code number as soon as possible to avoid serious consequences. That number is now on my call block list.