Dirty Dozen 2020: Social Media Scams

    Taxpayers need to protect themselves at all times, especially when communicating online. The Internet allows anyone to share information with everyone. This is the basic principle that scammers exploit when using Social Media scams. Information becomes their tool of choice when trying to steal personal information.

     This is especially true during a crisis like COVID-19. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) states that the current health crisis has been used extensively by criminals in attempts to steal information from Taxpayers. Often it starts with the victim getting an email or text that has a link to something they are interested in. By clicking on that link, you will be exposing yourself to all sorts of malicious code. Some will seek out your passwords, user names, or banking information. So make sure you know what you are clicking on and who the source is. Make sure you look closely at the message, there may be clear indications that give away that it’s a fake. Sadly, once it’s inside your phone or computer, it can send itself to others pretending that it came from you. So if someone you know sends a strange looking message, just check with them to make sure it’s from them.

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