With the holiday season now in full swing, the period presents a prime opportunity for identity thieves to try stealing personal financial information. People can face risks if they’re shopping online and using publicly accessible Wi-Fi, and fictitious text scams with “smishing” schemes continue during this period.
“With holiday shopping starting and the 2023 tax season quickly approaching, many people will be using laptops and personal devices to share sensitive financial information,” said IRS Acting Commissioner Doug O’Donnell. “In the months ahead, these same devices will be used to complete millions of tax returns by both taxpayers and tax professionals, making the holiday season the perfect time to take steps to protect your valuable information and watch out for scams.”
Formed in 2015, the Security Summit partnership between the IRS, state tax administrators and the tax software and tax professional community have worked together to improve defenses and protect people from tax-related identity theft. As part of that effort, the Summit partners worked to raise taxpayer and tax professional awareness about security issues – not only protecting people from the risk of identity theft but helping protect the nation’s tax system from refund-related fraud.
The Summit partners urged people to take extra care while shopping online or viewing emails and texts, especially during the holiday season when criminals are very active. The Security Summit reminds…
