IRS SEES SURGE PHISHING SCAMS

IRS sees surge phishing scams. This was the warning given to tax professionals at a recent Summit Partners Security Conference by the IRS. With the 2019 tax filing season upon us, the Internal Revenue Service, state tax agencies and the nation's tax industry warned people to be on the lookout following a surge of new, sophisticated email phishing scams. Taxpayers saw many more phishing scams in 2018 as the IRS recorded a 60 percent increase in bogus email schemes that seek to steal money or tax data. These schemes can endanger a taxpayer's financial and tax data, allowing identity thieves a chance to try stealing a tax refund.

IRS sees surge phishing scams. That was the message by the IRS, state tax agencies and the tax community, at the recent Security Summit, marking "National Tax Security Awareness Week", with a series of reminders to taxpayers and tax professionals. Part two was email phishing schemes. In the second part of the National Tax Security Awareness Week series, the IRS and Summit partners warned against a new influx of phishing scams.

Tax related phishing scams reported to the IRS declined for the prior three years until a surge in 2018. More than 2,000 tax related scam incidents were reported to the IRS from January through October, compared to approximately 1,200 incidents in all of 2017. Once recent malware campaign used a variety of subjects like "IRS important Notice", "IRS Taxpayer Notice" and other variations. The phishing emails, which use varying language, demands a payment or threatens to seize the recipients tax refund.

Taxpayers can help spot these schemes by examples of misspelling and bad grammar. Taxpayers can forward these email schemes to [email protected] The most common way for cybercriminals to steal money, bank account information, passwords, credit cards or Social Security numbers is to simply ask for them. Every day, people fall victim to phishing scams or phone scams that cost them their time and their cash. If you have fallen victim and owe taxes as a result, contact our Superior Tax Resolution Services Company for help. We can help prevent a IRS Wage Garnishment and pursue the IRS Fresh Start Program, and any other Tax Relief options you may qualify for.