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Thursday March 28, 2024Washington NewsHow to Avoid Holiday Scams
Cyber Monday was November 28, 2022. On that date, the Internal Revenue Service and the Security Summit partners launched the National Tax Security Awareness Week.
During this busy holiday season, creative identity thieves will develop new strategies to steal personal financial information. Your risks increase when you are shopping online and using public Wi-Fi. Identity thieves also are successful with text scams that are called "smishing." IRS Acting Commissioner Doug O'Donnell stated, "With holiday shopping starting and the 2023 tax season quickly approaching, many people will be using laptops and personal devices to share sensitive financial information. In the months ahead, these same devices will be used to complete millions of tax returns by both taxpayers and tax professionals, making the holiday season the perfect time to take steps to protect your valuable information and watch out for scams." The Security Summit offers multiple tips to protect yourself while shopping online or viewing emails.
The latest mobile phone scam involve messages that claim to come from the IRS. Other scams offer COVID relief or provide help in setting up an IRS account. You should be careful with these texts because if the identity thief steals your data during the holiday season, they plan to promptly file a fraudulent tax return in January. If you are working from home, you will benefit from additional protections. You should have a personal computer separate from your business computer. Do not send your business information to your personal email devices. If you use online business banking, only use your business computer for that purpose. Additionally, do not use your business computer for higher-risk activities including web surfing, gaming or video downloads. Lastly, consider changing your passwords regularly and use an encrypted password program to track your passwords. Published December 2, 2022
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