IRS Alerts Tax Professionals to Onslaught of Phishing Schemes

(NationalUSNews.com) — The IRS has recently issued warnings specifically for tax professionals concerning the alarming rise in scams that are designed to steal taxpayers’ personal information. Working with various state tax agencies and private tax industry organizations, they have identified several new tactics used by scammers.

Many of these new attacks are variations on phishing or cloud-based scams. These attacks, sometimes coming in waves of hundreds, targeting tax professionals aren’t limited to tax season but can occur at any time.

The IRS Commissioner, Danny Werfel, has emphasized how complex and convincing these scams can be. He notes that they are often elaborate and multi-layered in order to fool tax professionals in order to gain access to sensitive information. Werfel emphasizes the need for tax professionals to work with their employees and encourage them to stay alert and take all the necessary precautions to safeguard their client’s data.

The warnings specifically mention phishing or spear phishing emails. Phishing emails impersonate trusted sources in order to trick people into clicking links that lead to fake websites. These sites then request personal information for identity theft purposes and bank account access. Spear phishing is a more targeted version of the same method. These are tailored to specific people or organizations using information they’ve already gathered like job titles or the names of colleagues. Other scams include whaling attacks, which specifically target executives who may have access to sensitive information. Another variant is clone phishing where genuine emails are copied and sent again with malicious attachments or links.

This warning from the IRS comes on the heels of a recent wave of cyberattacks including one that targeted AT&T recently. In that incident, a scammer accessed and copied AT&T call logs. This impacted nearly all of AT&T’s customers as well as other mobile network operators that use AT&T’s network. The IRS’s warnings emphasize the need for cybersecurity measures as they are of vital importance particularly for tax professionals.