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It’s tax season, and also open season for cyber thieves to try to steal people’s identity.
Tony Coulson, professor of information and decision sciences and director of Cal State San Bernardino’s Cyber Security Center, offered one simple step for taxpayers: Stay on top of your (snail) mailbox.
“This time of year, ID thieves target those W-2s that come in the mail. Don’t let that happen to you,” said Coulson told The Press-Enterprise.
Compromised personal identification numbers leading to false returns and stolen refunds are behind an Internal Revenue crackdown against identity theft, according to Coulson.
The vast majority of Americans file their taxes electronically, but Coulson’s advice about snail mail emphasizes that people are often the weak link when it comes to cyber security, the newspaper reported.
“The IRS wants to make sure that online sources, software companies and ultimately taxpayers are aware of good security practices,” he said. “Social engineering and IRS fraud scams involving phone calls have been very common in the last year.”
The article, published Jan. 22, 2017, has other safety tips for people to protect their private information, and can be read at “Here are several tips that can help you at tax time.”