We’ve described cyber criminals as opportunists many times. They’re adept at leveraging big events―from natural disasters to holidays―to their advantage. Like it or not, tax season is one such event that shows up on our calendars at the same time every year and, unfortunately, has become an increasingly lucrative window of opportunity for fraudsters.
Now that we’re into tax season, cyber criminals are looking to steal personal information, tax documents, file fraudulent returns in victims’ names, and/or demand unnecessary payments with false threats of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) action due to outstanding tax bills. Fraudsters have masterfully preyed on people’s fear of the IRS to steal their identities and money. With data breaches occurring on an almost-daily basis, these thieves have ample information about you at their fingertips to make their scams seem credible.