Hey readers: Have any of you gotten a surprise text from the mighty Internal Revenue Service?
On Sept. 28 — just before October’s Cybersecurity Awareness Month — the IRS issued a warning of a recent major increase in IRS themed texting scams, intent on stealing sensitive tax data and other personal and financial information.
So far, in 2022 the IRS said it has identified and reported thousands of fraudulent domains tied to multiple MMS/SMS/text scams (called “smishing”) targeting taxpayers.
“In recent months,” the agency said, “and especially in the last few weeks, IRS themed smishing has increased exponentially.”
Smishing, apparently originating from the IRS, targets cell phone users and may offer tax credits, or aid in establishing an IRS online account or even provide (fake) COVID relief.
“This is phishing on an industrial scale so thousands of people can be at risk of receiving these scam messages,” IRS Commissioner Chuck Rettig said.
“In recent months, the IRS has reported multiple large-scale smishing campaigns that have delivered thousands — and even hundreds of thousands — of IRS themed messages in hours or a few days, far exceeding previous levels of activity.”
The texting scam tsunami began flourishing in the fall of 2020, the IRS said, and continued into the pandemic.
The latest tactic, the IRS said, is scam…
