Forest Global Training Partners

Cyber Risks · Krebs on Security

Phishing Victims Muddle Tax Fraud Fight

Summary: The IRS is taking up to three times longer to review 2015 tax returns, and many states did not begin paying refunds until March 1, as new Gentax fraud filters score returns on wage and identity confidence. Alabama revenue commissioner Julie Magee attributed much of the delay to a steady drip of breaches involving phished employee W-2 data, including an estimated 180 employees at ISCO Industries and 425 at EWTN, and to criminals registering as IRS electronic return originators to file large volumes of phony refund requests through professional tax software.

Bottom line: Magee said her office learned of the Alabama breaches only after affected employees contacted journalists, and she has zero confidence that filings with high wage confidence but low identity confidence are legitimate - yet she concedes it is still a big unknown what percentage of fraudulent refunds the filters are not stopping.

Read the original at Krebs on Security ↗

Topics
Data Breaches
Related