With tax scammers redoubling their efforts in the waning days of the 2017 tax season, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a warning to tax professionals and citizens to be on the lookout for last-minute scams.
A huge number of tax scams have already hit a wide variety of companies, schools and organizations this year, but with time running out before the April 18 filing date the IRS is warning of a few scams spotted.
One has the malicious actor posing as a customer calling his or her tax preparer asking that their refund not be deposited in the account indicated, but to either a different account or even a prepaid debit card.
“The IRS urges tax preparers to verbally reconfirm information with the client should they receive last-minute email request to change an address or direct deposit account for refunds,” the IRS wrote.
The cybercriminals are not ignoring the other half of the equation and have come up with another dodge directed at consumers. In this situation the tax payer receives an email purportedly from their tax software service provider asking them to update their online profile. These can either be attempts to download malware through a malicious attachment or to obtain personal information.
