Alsip Police Warn of Latest Tax Email Scam Targeting Tax Preparers

ALSIP, IL -- Cybercriminals are getting early start on tax season by sending out fake emails to tax professionals posing as potential clients.

Alsip police are tax preparpers to beware of emails supposedly from the Internal Revenue Service stating that multiple tax returns were filed the recipient. The scam tries to trick the tax preparer into clicking on a malicious attachment, stealing tax clients’ personal information.

The latest scam works in two steps, so watch out for possibly bogus emails, police said.

STEP 1 -- Cybercriminals are sending emails, posing as potential clients, and interested in services from tax professionals. The tax preparer responds, and the bad guys send a second email with a malicious attachment. The tax preparer falls for this social engineering attack and that compromises the machine and now the bad guys own the tax preparer’s computer.

STEP 2: The bad guys now use the tax pro’s computer to send out legit looking emails to all the tax professional’s clients and get their financial records sent over to their own email address, so they can quickly file a fake tax return and pocket the money, using the illegally obtained information.

When clients receive emails from their tax preparer’s regarding their taxes, W2s, whether you know them or not, pick up the phone verify with your trusted tax preparer that he or she sent you the email.

If you must send tax information via email, triple-check that the tax preparer’s email address is correct and type it in yourself to yourself. NEVER click on “reply” and attach your tax information, because that reply email address might be spoofed.

To be 100 percent safe, hand-deliver your tax information to your prepare and do the tax return in person, Alsip police said.

For more information on old and new scams, visit the IRS website.

Visit Money.com for information on recovering your money if your tax refund has already been stolen.