<beep><beep><beep>This is a Public Service Announcement.
Okay, on a slightly more serious note... Identity theft and phishing is on the rise, and tax season is no exception. There are a couple of things to remember in particular:
Identity theft. The scammers are filing fraudulent tax returns using your taxpayer ID, depositing fake refunds into temporary accounts and running. By the time you get around to filing yours, you get flagged for filing a second return. The IRS knows they've got a problem, and it's getting worse. Unfortunately, the average time to fix this is something out around 6 months, and if you need the cash, you're just plain sunk.
The second issue are phishing scams. One managed to slip through my filters this morning. This one was pretty easy to spot, it had a pretty full address list (the IRS will never email anyone but you with this info, or at least bloody well better not!) as well as not spoofing the URL of the enclosed link (this one went to a German domain.) Never, ever, ever, click on a link from an email like this, or from any financial institution. Always, always, always go to the institutions home page and start there.
Okay, on a slightly more serious note... Identity theft and phishing is on the rise, and tax season is no exception. There are a couple of things to remember in particular:
Identity theft. The scammers are filing fraudulent tax returns using your taxpayer ID, depositing fake refunds into temporary accounts and running. By the time you get around to filing yours, you get flagged for filing a second return. The IRS knows they've got a problem, and it's getting worse. Unfortunately, the average time to fix this is something out around 6 months, and if you need the cash, you're just plain sunk.
The second issue are phishing scams. One managed to slip through my filters this morning. This one was pretty easy to spot, it had a pretty full address list (the IRS will never email anyone but you with this info, or at least bloody well better not!) as well as not spoofing the URL of the enclosed link (this one went to a German domain.) Never, ever, ever, click on a link from an email like this, or from any financial institution. Always, always, always go to the institutions home page and start there.
