2018 Tax Filing Season

2018 Tax Filing Season Begins January 29^th

The 2018 tax filing season begins Monday, January 29th and with it comes heightened fraud activity from cybercriminals.

Tax season is prime time for phishing attacks for tax practitioners and their clients.  These attacks may be directly targeted at you and may be incredibly convincing!  Cybercriminals are using phishing emails to trick you into opening a link or attached document. For this reason, please be extra cautious.

If you don’t know the sender, assume it is bad and delete it.  Even if you know the sender, call them and confirm they sent the message if you have any doubts and especially if any of the following conditions apply:

1. You weren’t expecting any attachments or links from the sender.
2. There’s no context in the message that can help you validate it. If a message only contains links or attachments and vague text, it shouldn’t be trusted – even if you’re expecting something.
3. There’s anything that is suspicious or doesn’t seem right.

Helpful tips that can help save you from a cybercriminal attack:

• When you call the sender to verify, don’t use a phone number from the email.
• Never respond to an email to verify it since the cybercriminal may have control of the sender’s mailbox.
• Remember, just one click can adversely affect you and/or your company!

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