Fraud is a year-round activity, but tax season brings an uptick in calculated schemes to steal money and personal information through spoofed messages and other means. Cybersecurity firms have also reported an increase in fraud attempts that exploit the conflict in Ukraine — a situation that has increased fears of potential cyberattacks on American companies through ransomware and other malicious software. You can better protect yourself if you know what’s out there. Here’s a guide.Avoid the Tax ScamThe Internal Revenue Service doesn’t make first contact with taxpayers by email, text messages or social media channels to request personal and financial information — including bank-account or credit-card numbers, passwords or PIN codes. Messages asking for that information are deceptive “phishing” attempts to steal money and identities.If the I.R.S. needs your attention, it starts with a notice by regular mail via the United States Postal Service in most cases.The I.R.S. will not send unexpected messages about auditing returns, sending stimulus payments, collecting your taxes or “canceling your Social Security number.” An I.R.S. representative may call or visit when a taxpayer has an overdue bill or has other tax-related issues. But even then, written notification is typically sent first, according to the agency.Scam telephone calls and voice messages using spoofed agency numbers and forged I.R.S. agent identification are common. Again, the agency typically first sends a notice by mail. It does not call unexpectedly to discuss tax refunds, threaten arrest by local law enforcement or demand immediate payment in a specific form. Tax bills are paid to the U.S. Treasury and not directly to “agents” requiring funds in iTunes or Amazon gift cards, prepaid debit cards, electronic cash or wire transfer.The Tax Scams/Consumer Alerts page on the official irs.gov site has a lengthy list of current and classic scams. And the site has a guide for verifying real I.R.S. agents and identifying legitimate debt collectors.Donate WiselyOp …
