This is the fifth in a series of best practices reminding taxpayers to protect themselves from scammers, hackers and identity thieves.
Best Practices #5: Avoid E-mail Phishing Attempts. First, understanding what “phishing” is. Phishing is when thieves attempt to lure you into the scam mainly through impersonations. The scam may claim to be from a friend, a company with whom you do business or a prize award – anything to get you to open the email or text.
Here are a few basic tips to recognize and avoid a phishing email:
- It contains a link. Scammers often pose as the IRS, financial institutions, credit card companies or even tax companies or software providers. They may claim they need you to update your account or ask you to change a password. Do not click on the link. If in doubt, go directly to the legitimate website and access your account.
- It contains an attachment. Do not open attachments from sources unknown to you.
- It’s from a government agency. Scammers attempt to frighten people into opening email links by posing as government agencies.
- It’s an “off” email from a friend. Scammers also hack email accounts and try to leverage the stolen email addresses. You may receive an email from a “friend” that just doesn’t seem right. It may be missing a subject for the subject line or contain odd requests or language. If it seems off, avoid it and do not click on any links.
- It has a lookalike URL. The questionable email may try to trick you with the URL. For example, instead of www.MyRenoCPA.com, it may be a false lookalike such as www.MyRenoCPA.maliciousname.com. You can place your cursor over the text to view a pop-up of the real URL.
- Use security features. Your browser and email provider generally will have anti-spam and phishing features. Make sure you use all of your security software features.
Here are other IRS impersonation scams used to steal your identity according to the Service:
- Requesting fake tax payments
- Targeting students and parents and demanding payment for a fake “Federal Student Tax”
- Sending a fraudulent IRS bill for tax year 2015 related to the Affordable Care Act
- Soliciting W-2 information from payroll and human resources professionals
- “Verifying” tax return information over the phone
- Pretending to be from the tax preparation industry
In many of these scams, there are threats to take legal action or report the potential target to the police to be arrested.
A good general rule: Don’t give out personal information based on an unsolicited email request. Remember: Legitimate businesses don’t ask you to send sensitive information through unsecured channels. And if an offer or prize award email sounds too good to be true, it probably is. (Source: IRS)