In the United States, tax season is prime time for hackers to take advantage of law-abiding, tax-paying citizens. They do this through all kinds of nefarious activities, such as phishing attacks conducted through text messages and emails claiming to be from the Internal Revenue Service. If you want to avoid getting scammed this tax season, be sure to keep the following tips in mind to stay safe while you conduct your typical tax routines.

Tax Season Means Scams Galore

Citizens and businesses alike might get a tax return payout at the end of the process, so it stands to reason that scammers will try to take advantage of this excitement.

Here are some the most well-known types of scams you might see this tax season:

• Spoofed/robocalls meant to seem as though the IRS is calling.
• Text messages alerting of “urgent” issues with links to resolve them
• Phishing emails with similar messages

Additionally, there are what the IRS claims to be the Dirty Dozen, or some of the more popular (and creative) schemes that might rear their ugly heads this tax season, ranging from fake charities to fake IT support.

If you’re looking for warning signs, there are plenty to watch out for:

• Like many other scam attempts, there will commonly be the promise of a big financial reward for complying with the scammers’ demands.
• Alternatively, these scams may threaten severe consequences to scare targets into compliance.
• Scam messages commonly include links with odd or incorrect spelling to take targets to malicious websites.

The IRS’ Preferred Communication Medium

This issue is so commonplace that the IRS has released a guide for how to tell when a message from the IRS is legitimate. Specifically, the IRS mentions that they will only reach out to taxpayers by the U.S. Postal Service, and that all letters are searchable within their official website. While they might use other means of contact from time to time (like phone or email), you need to have given them permission to do so.

All of this is to say that, unless you’ve explicitly given the IRS permission to contact you through other means, you’ll only get official correspondence from them through snail mail–and any attempts to get in touch with you by text, phone, voicemail, or email are likely scams.

The IRS Will Not…

• Reach out via social media
• Accept gift or prepaid debit cards as payment
• Threaten you with law or immigration enforcement
• Revoke licensing, including citizenship, driver’s, or business
• Leave robocall voicemails
• Mail advertisements for debt resolution

For more ways to recognize tax scams and fraud, check the IRS’ website, as it is rife with information that you’ll most certainly find helpful in your efforts to avoid scams this tax season.

Scammers might love tax season, but they’re also happy to target you any other time of the year. We can help you out with that with our cybersecurity solutions. Learn more today by calling us at (928) 889-8487.