Members of the tax industry are warning that phishing emails are appearing in numbers as tax season approaches. The Internal Revenue Service, software companies and other parties say this continues last year's efforts to trick tax professionals into opening a link or attached document.These measures are designed to get a preparer to respond and a second email will arrive claiming a client’s tax data is enclosed. Criminals want practitioners to clink on links, which then download malicious software aimed at capturing client data.
The IRS is also receiving reports of imposters posing as IRS e-Services, e-Services, asking tax pros to sign into their accounts via a disguised link. That link sends the professional a fake e-Services where usernames and passwords are stolen.
A more secure identity-proofing process, called Secure Access, has been implemented for e-Services. The IRS reminds all account holders that if they have not updated accounts they should do so immediately.