Cyber attackers are taking advantage of the weeks leading up to tax filing day, and the onslaught of phishing attacks aiming to profit off of the season aren’t letting up.
A new report by IBM’s X-Force, “Cybercrime Riding Tax Season Tides,” notes a 6,000 percent increase in the number of tax-themed spam being received from December 2016 to February 2017.
With more than 54 million Americans filing their taxes after April 1 in 2016, scammers the report predicts that attackers will likely ramp up their efforts in the coming weeks. “The trend continues even after the filing deadline is passed, as criminals find ways to have more victims open malicious attachments under the guide of responses from their local tax authority,” the report says.
The IRS recently issued a warning of last-minute email scams that request victims to make deposit changes for refunds or account updates.
