Don't Mess With Taxes

Tax scammers don't just go after average taxpayers. They also are looking to hook tax professionals.

The latest criminal effort to haul in tax pros is a new phishing scam.

This bogus email asks tax professionals to update their Internal Revenue Service e-services portal information and Electronic Filing Identification Numbers (EFINs). The links provided in the fake messages appear to be a phishing scheme designed to capture tax pros' usernames and passwords.

This email was not generated by the IRS e-services program, notes the IRS, which urges recipients to deal with it as they would any suspicious email: Disregard it and definitely do not click on the links.

As all of us are sadly aware of by now, phishing uses unsolicited email or fake websites that appear to be legitimate in order to entice potential victims to provide valuable personal and financial information. Armed with this info, the crooks commit identity theft or financial theft.

Various types of tax phishing appear throughout the year, but are more prevalent during tax filing season. It's a regular in the IRS' annual Dirty Dozen tax scam list.

And just as regularly, the IRS reminds us that its employees generally do not initiate contact with taxpayers by email to request personal or financial information. This includes any type of electronic communication, such as social media outlets and text messages, which could be smishing tax ID theft attempts

If you receive an unsolicited email that appears to be from either the IRS or an organization closely linked to the IRS, such as the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System (EFTPS), report it by sending it to [email protected].

You also might find these items of interest:

• Don't become a tax identity theft victim
• Fear you might be a tax ID theft victim? Here's what to do
• Look out for phishing scam from fake Treasury Secretary