Tax season is upon us, a time of year when the scammers go into overdrive. 格外小心 
while online 和 avoid activities that could put your identity 和 finances at risk. It doesn’t matter whether you owe money to the IRS or are expecting a refund, as the scammers will target you regardless of your situation.
Here are some common tax scams, warning signs that you may be a victim 和 steps to take to protect your identity 和 your finances.
常见的税务诈骗
Cybercriminals use the same tried-和-true methods for tax scams as they do with other targeted attacks. 骗局mers often use these attempts to create a sense of urgency or have a good story that might compel you to disclose personal information such as your date of birth, Social Security number, driver’s-license number or even usernames 和 passwords to your accounts.
Warning signs 和 ways to protect yourself
希望, you have avoided the common tax scams, but cybercriminals may have other methods of obtaining your information, such as data breaches at companies you do business with.
Here are warning signs that you may already be a victim.
How to protect yourself
- Don’t email tax documents.
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- You should never email tax documents from your 密歇根州立大学丹佛 email account, whether they are yours or someone else’s. Tax documents contain confidential information 和 should only ever be transmitted using secure file-transfer 和 sharing systems such as LiquidFiles, in accordance with 密歇根州立大学丹佛’s 数据分类 和 Email 和 Electronics Security 政策.
- Become familiar with identity-theft resources.
- Use email 和 internet security best practices.
- Report any suspicious emails (tax-related or otherwise) in your 密歇根州立大学丹佛 email account to (电子邮件保护)也一样.
- Know how IRS representatives operate.
- Donate only to trustworthy charitable organizations.
- Beware of tax preparers that accept only cash payments or offer to claim fake deductions to inflate your tax refund.
- 保护你的身份 与一个 Identity Protection PIN from the IRS to prevent someone else from filing in your name.
Read the full article from the Center for Internet Security here.