Online Fraud Detection - IRS Dirty Dozen Phishing, Phone Cons and Identity Theft Lead Scam List For 2017

The Internal Revenue Service rounded up some of the usual suspects in its annual look at the Dirty Dozen scams you need to watch out for this year.

It should come as no surprise that the IRS saw a big spike in phishing and malware incidents during the 2016 tax season because the agency has been very public about its battle with this scourge.

Just this month the IRS issued another warning about what it called a dangerous, evolving W-2 scams that are targeting corporations, school districts and other public and private concerns.

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“This is one of the most dangerous email phishing scams we’ve seen in a long time. It can result in the large-scale theft of sensitive data that criminals can use to commit various crimes, including filing fraud  tax returns. We need everyone’s help to turn the tide against this scheme,’’ said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen in a statement.

In addition the latest Phishing Trends and Intelligence Report, which has data about January 2016, says that the IRS phishing sites spotted in that one month totaled more than the IRS phishing attempts seen during all of the previous year. While the numbers for January aren’t in yet, PhishLabs researchers expect yet another spike.

“New and evolving phishing schemes have already been seen this month as scam artists work to confuse taxpayers during filing season. The IRS has already seen email schemes in recent weeks targeting tax professionals, payroll professionals, human resources personnel, schools as well as average taxpayers,”said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen in a statement.

The phone scamming is another epidemic the IRS faces. Through January of last year, the IRS saw over 5,000 victims who collectively paid over $26.5 million because of the scam which involved criminals making threats over the phone.