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<p class="MsoNormal">All,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The CoitCyberSecurity List’s name has been changed to the OneNetCyberSecurity List.
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The alert today is about the recent IRS warning to last minute tax filers.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">They are alerting us that they have seen last-minute phishing email scams targeting especially those requesting last-minute deposit changes for refunds or account updates.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The IRS, state tax agencies and the tax industry enacted many safeguards against identity theft for 2017, but cybercriminals are ever evolving and make use of sophisticated scams to trick people into divulging sensitive data.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="font-variant-ligatures: normal;font-variant-caps: normal;font-variant-numeric: inherit;font-stretch: inherit;line-height:inherit;orphans: 2;text-align:start;widows: 2;-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px;text-decoration-style: initial;text-decoration-color: initial;word-spacing:0px">
For example, one new scam poses as taxpayers asking their tax preparer to make a last-minute change to their refund destination, often to a prepaid debit card. The IRS urges tax preparers to verbally reconfirm information with the client should they receive
last-minute email request to change an address or direct deposit account for refunds.
<span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black;background:white">
Taxpayers may see scam emails from their tax software provider or others asking them to update online accounts.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Frankly, if you get a request for sensitive information from anyone via email, you should always call and confirm the email is valid before providing sensitive information. Most if not all valid requests for this type of information should
never come via email. This fact should be the best clue for <span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black;background:white">
recognizing phishing emails. Please warn your compasses and workers and save them a lot of grief. Thanks for all you do to keep the internet safer.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black;background:white">Here is the full alert.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:black;background:white"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.irs.gov/uac/newsroom/irs-states-and-tax-industry-warn-of-last-minute-email-scams">https://www.irs.gov/uac/newsroom/irs-states-and-tax-industry-warn-of-last-minute-email-scams</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Best,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><i><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";color:blue">Barbara McCrary</span></i><i><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><br>
</span></i>_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________<o:p></o:p></p>
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