New IRS Site Could Make it Easy for Thieves to Intercept Some Stimulus Payments
Summary: The IRS launched a web portal asking non-filers to submit bank account information for $1,200 Economic Impact Payments, but the site's identity checks are largely optional: applicants can enter 0 for prior-year adjusted gross income and leave driver's license fields blank. Krebs notes that Social Security numbers and dates of birth are sold for a few dollars per record in cybercrime shops, so a fraudster with a target's name, address, DOB and SSN could supply their own bank account and claim the payment.
Bottom line: Millions of eligible non-filers - low-income workers, veterans and people with disabilities - are exactly the population whose SSN and DOB data is cheap and available underground, and the portal's only hard requirement is a mobile number that can receive a text.
Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗
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