It’s Tax Season ∴ CyberThieves Are Working Full Time!

With most things going electronic, it’s beneficial to be aware of some of the tricks a con-artist would use to get your W-2 and try to claim your tax refund before you have the chance to.

One popular method is for the crooks to set up a fake employee benefits website that asks for your details, like name, birthdate, and social security number; then send out some phishing emails that look like your W-2 is ready for download.

Another popular method is to set up a fake Tax preparation company cloned website that also asks for your details, but the phishing email that hits your inbox has promises for pretty large tax returns.

But how do these thieves know who to target? They look to social media and start harvesting information. Some social media sites offer pretty detailed search capabilities, such as the ability to list out who lives in Alabama, likes Intuit Turbo Tax, and likes Walmart. (Nothing against Alabamians, it’s just the first State alphabetically). Now a cyberthief can set up a fake Turbo Tax website and a fake Alabama State tax website, send out a fake Alabama State Tax and Turbo Tax phishing email, and since the majority of people who shop at Walmart are usually looking for a great deal, may not have a lot of spending money, will see an email with possible promises for a large refund…

It sounds like a lot of work for cybercriminals, but the work to reward ratio is crazy successful! Plus, know that if it didn’t work, we wouldn’t see it around.

How do we protect ourselves from showing up in those searches? We police our own social media profiles! We tighten up the privacy settings of who can view them.

If it’s too late and you’ve already learned that your identity was stolen, (HINT, someone already cashed out your tax refund), visit https://www.identitytheft.gov/

Here is a cool infographic on what Cybercriminals are shopping for (and what they’re paying)