How to Escape from the Latest Phishing Lures

It can be hard to keep up with all the ways scammers seek to obtain personal and sensitive information from unsuspecting victims. It's important to know that phishing attempts are significantly higher around holidays and certain times of the year, like tax season. Having the tools to spot a scam can protect you from giving away financial and other personally identifiable information. Read on to learn about some of the more current phishing trends.

Urgent Text Messages

Unexpected text messages posing to be from commonly used services are written to alarm you into clicking on a link or calling a bogus phone number. Once you act, you are prompted to provide personal information. One popular text, seemingly from USPS, warns that a package can’t be delivered because of an incorrect zip code and provides a link to click so your package can be delivered promptly. As tax time approaches, it is also common for text messages to seemingly come from the IRS concerning a large tax bill or tax refunds.

The best way to tell if a text message is a scan is to check the number – search on Google or search for the text of the message.

Email Spoofing

Like unsolicited text messages, email spoofing occurs when a scammer impersonates a trusted source by manipulating the email sender’s display name or address, often just by changing one letter (e.g., Amazan instead of Amazon), symbol, or number. Always verify the sender’s address before clicking any links, downloading attachments, or scanning QR codes. For example, an email from USPS would not come from an @gmail.com account—all communications from the IRS come from irs.gov.

Don’t Be Lax During Tax Time 

Tax time is stressful, and scammers are counting on you to be distracted and fall victim to their attempts to infiltrate your financial security. Here are a few tax season security tips from the National Cybersecurity Alliance. Read the full article.