Scams Targeting Tax Professionals

Scams Targeting Tax Professionals

Increasingly, tax professionals are being targeted by identity thieves. These criminals – many of them sophisticated, organized syndicates - are redoubling their efforts to gather personal data to file fraudulent federal and state income tax returns. The Security Summit has a campaign aimed at tax professionals: Protect Your Clients; Protect Yourself.
Recent scams targeting the tax professional community include:

• Tax Professionals Warned of e-Services Scam.
• Tax Professionals Warned of New Scam to “Unlock” Tax Software Accounts.
• A phishing scheme mimicking software providers targets tax professionals.
• Criminals target tax professionals to steal data such as PTINs, EFINs or e-Service passwords.
• Bogus email asks tax professionals to update their IRS e-services portal information and Electronic Filing Identification Numbers (EFINs).
  • See: IRS Warns Tax Preparers to Watch out for New Phishing Scam; Don’t Click on Strange Emails or Links Seeking Updated Information

Tax professionals should review Publication 4557, Safeguarding Taxpayer Data, A Guide for Your Business, which provides a checklist to help safeguard information and enhance security.
See also: Identity Theft Information for Tax Professionals.