Tax season is stressful enough without having to worry about scammers trying to take your hard-earned money and private information. Business owners and residents may not know what scams and hacking attempts are looming during tax season. While submitting taxes virtually may make the task easier, it can also increase the possibility of being susceptible to a variety of hacks.
Here are four essential tips to help keep your refund and data safe this tax season:
File your taxes before the fraudsters beat you to the punch. Though taxes may be stressful, it’s best to not push them off until Tax Day arrives. One common tactic scammers use in an attempt to steal your tax return is to file your taxes before you can. If you file before a lurking hacker, you can beat them at their own game by removing their chance at filing on your behalf. If you file your taxes first, anyone who tries to re-input your information will be denied and unable to access your return or further personal information.
Use a secure internet connection while inputting information. Don’t file your taxes at the local coffee shop. The best route to avoid cybercriminal activity while filing your taxes is to use a nonpublic Wi-Fi connection. Public connections can be easily hacked and could lead to your information landing in the wrong hands. The most secure connection can be made using an ethernet cable, but using Wi-Fi with a secure password will suffice. When you move through the process of filing, always double check that the website address has a lock icon to the left of it, as that proves it is a secure site.
Be on the lookout for any type of scam attempt. Phishing attempts, or fraudulent emails sent to steal your private information, are on the rise. Though you may not be able to fully protect yourself from receiving these emails, cybercriminal attempts are often easy to catch if you have a watchful eye. Mistakes such as grammatical errors and double spacing between words can be a sign of a phishing attempt. An additional tactic that may be used in a phishing email is urgent requests for information. Be cautious of any email that gives you a short time limit to provide information, and scope out the email before responding. It is also important to note that the IRS will never call you regarding your taxes – that is a “vishing” attempt, calls purporting to be from reputable sources. Be cautious with how you share your personal information – always double check your emails and be wary of calls from unknown phone numbers.
Make sure your passwords are unique. Having the same password for multiple accounts may allow you an easy login process, but that also means that if a cybercriminal gets into one of your accounts, they are able to then access all of them. Once the scammer is able to steal your information on the first account, they will weave through each of your platforms to ensure they have all of your private information stored. If you have differing passwords across accounts, it is more difficult for scammers to break into all of your accounts. When choosing a password, ensure it is unique and uses a mix of numbers, letters and symbols and avoid including easy recall information, like your birthday.
As technology continues to improve and become more prominent in our lives, scammers are only getting smarter. Though online filing makes tax season easier, it does open the door to potential attacks. Staying educated on how you can protect yourself from scams will help to keep you and your information safe.
Jason Arabian is the owner of information technology firm CMIT Solutions of Central Rhode Island.
