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IRS Warns Of 400% Flood In Phishing and Malware This Tax Year Alone (networkworld.com)

Posted by yaelk on from the its-tax-season dept.

coondoggie writes: There has been a 400% surge in phishing and malware incidents in this tax season alone, the Internal Revenue Service warned this week. According to the IRS, there have been thousands of phony emails aimed at fooling taxpayers into thinking these are official communications from the IRS or others in the tax industry, including from many tax software companies.

42 comments

  1. Easy fix. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

    A flat tax, where anyone could file their taxes on a postcard size form, would pretty much do away with this problem.

    1. Re:Easy fix. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trump is better.

    2. Re:Easy fix. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Low income people are going to have a riot over that suggestion, just like they're practically rioting over the "smart" electric meters because they snitch when you steal power. I have family in Detroit... you know, lower class. Everyone there uses the tried and true method of I have no W2s or 1099s, so I just put down $500 in the "other income" section and check "head of household" and suddenly you qualify for a several thousand dollar rebate, earned income credit, etc. The Michigan Dept of Treasury finally got wise to this gig, and they will flag you for audit and hold your refund until you submit a legitimate W2. But the IRS is still dolling out those checks like the Publishers Clearinghouse.

    3. Re:Easy fix. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right, because the tax system is complex due to brackets. Alternate solution that isn't highly regressive:

      • Add more tax brackets
      • Remove all deductions
      • Treat all income from any source as regular income
    4. Re:Easy fix. by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      Calculating the tax is pretty near the easiest thing about doing your taxes.....you look up the number in the tax table and if you do it wrong, the IRS will correct it for you.
      The difficult part is figuring out what counts as income, and where to report that income.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    5. Re:Easy fix. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What if your income is so high that it's not in the tax table?

    6. Re:Easy fix. by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      You hire an accountant. Or use the tax calculation worksheet.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
    7. Re:Easy fix. by KGIII · · Score: 1

      I recommend everyone look into incorporation. This doesn't necessitate hiring a lawyer and an accountant but, done properly, it can often lead to having enough extra money to do both and still be keeping more of your income (legally) than before.

      That and, well, this flat tax idea is pretty stupid. I pay just about 23% on capital gains. I have *no* taxable income. I really don't. I, personally, have no taxably income. 23% isn't a very high percentage. That'd really suck if you're taxably income is something like $20,000. That's ¼ of your income. Yes, it's ¼ of my capital gains. However, I've got more than $15,200 left.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  2. The IRS is malware by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    nt

  3. Source? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The article claims the IRS has these stats, but doesn't actually link back to a source article or anything. Anyone have more info that comes from an official source?

  4. An increase in phishing? by edibobb · · Score: 3

    I wonder what brought that on.
    https://www.washingtonpost.com...

    1. Re:An increase in phishing? by portwojc · · Score: 1

      Plays into this too...

      http://krebsonsecurity.com/2015/03/sign-up-at-irs-gov-before-crooks-do-it-for-you/

      Someone thought it would be a bright idea to have online registration with the IRS. So now people will think it's more legit if they did sign up. So that email could have more of a chance to be taken seriously...

    2. Re:An increase in phishing? by Llamalarity · · Score: 2

      Got my first from the 'IRS' a week ago, so I have seen an increase. Email address was in the UK which in hindsight probably would be an improvement:) Filled it in with gibberish and profanities and when I submitted it they complained that I was not excepting cookies.

  5. Tax? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    It's illegal to pay taxes. To pay taxes you need to use a legal name and only B.A.R.-members / those licensed to practice legal law have permission to use the legal name. It's illegal to use a legal name. Google LEGAL NAME FRAUD for more info!

    1. Re:Tax? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Use an APP name! Modern app appers know that ONLY apps can app apps, so if you use an APP name instead of a LUDDITE legal name, everything will be 400% appier!

      Apps!

    2. Re:Tax? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "B.A.R."??? What does a Browning Automatic Rifle have to do with anything?

    3. Re:Tax? by UnknownSoldier · · Score: 0

      The problem is while you are technically correct good luck fighting a corrupt entity that effectively has infinite money.

      There are more important battles to fight.

      --
      Don't steal -- the government has a monopoly on stealing and murder. It is legal when they do, but not you."

    4. Re:Tax? by phantomfive · · Score: 1

      It's illegal to pay taxes

      You better hope not, because it's also illegal to skip paying taxes. So if you are right, you're going to jail because there's no way to avoid it.

      --
      "First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
  6. you mean that *Enforcement Action* call i got? by turkeydance · · Score: 1

    my cousin Vinnie took care of it.

  7. From tunas to gold fish: by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Not contacting any female helps you to get rid of phishing more than You people think.

  8. Phishing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Isn't that a band for stoners?

    1. Re:Phishing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Clever called, says you are to cease and desist impersonating it.

  9. The crooks in D.C. hate competition. by Paleolibertarian · · Score: -1

    I'm sure most everyone has heard all the legal theories about why the Income Tax is being applied illegally so I won't belabor the point.

    Taxation is theft.

    1. Re:The crooks in D.C. hate competition. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Taxation is theft.

      No, taxation is forgiveness of debt.

      Governments issue IOU's in the form of money. Then they demand that you periodically forgive some of that debt. This is their payment for rendering administrative services to the citizenry.

      You just don't like paying taxes. This makes you approximately as mature as a toddler that cries when he gets his toys taken away from him.

    2. Re:The crooks in D.C. hate competition. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      yes and roads and bridges and police and schools and firefighters and military would be magically provided by the lord of a jesus

    3. Re:The crooks in D.C. hate competition. by ausekilis · · Score: 2, Insightful

      You're free to move to some island and pay for your own municipal parks, roads, sewage/recycling/garbage collection. Not to mention zoos, aquariums, wildlife refuges, national parks. You can also stand up your own one-man military.

      Don't get me wrong, I think my tax dollars are grossly misappropriated and I'd rather not be paying many senators salaries... but to make the blanket statement that tax is theft is to ignore all those things that your taxes cover to make your life better.

    4. Re:The crooks in D.C. hate competition. by KGIII · · Score: 1

      Please do me a favor, if you can. Somewhere, in the back of your mind, stuff this away: They're not a Libertarian. They're a Randian or an Embarrassed Republican who has co-opted the moniker.

      It might be hard to tuck that away, they are a noisy bunch. But, as I've explained many times, liberty is the actual ideal for Libertarians. That's for all, not for a select or wealthy few. If it's only for a select few, chance are that it's not anything more than abuse under the guise of liberty.

      --
      "So long and thanks for all the fish."
  10. link? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh, these modern day journalists... a link to the IRS website? Maybe?

  11. The IRS sucks at maths by Cigaes · · Score: 2

    Someone should teach the IRS never to use variation percentages outside the -50% – +100% range.

    And unsurprisingly, they got it wrong: “1,026 up from 254 from a year earlier”, that makes roughly ×4, i.e. +300%; +400% is ×5.

    Well, it could just be just the journalist that sucks at maths. At the very least, he did not check the figures.

  12. How clueless does one have to be..... by mark-t · · Score: 1

    ... to fall for a scam like this?

    The IRS does not and would not *EVER* request any information that is confidential between you and the IRS to be sent via email.

    I'm not sure that the IRS even uses email to contact taxpayers at all, although if they did, it would probably be for things that are irrelevant to the matter of filing taxes, like maybe informing them of new services or something similar.

    --
    File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
    1. Re:How clueless does one have to be..... by dlt074 · · Score: 1

      you'd also think they would NEVER be the enforcer of health care law either... but they are.

      the only way to win, is eliminate the IRS.

    2. Re:How clueless does one have to be..... by Krishnoid · · Score: 1

      ... to fall for a scam like this?

      The IRS does not and would not *EVER* request any information that is confidential between you and the IRS to be sent via email.

      I bet many people don't completely understand the nuances in distinction between transacting official communications over email, and calculating/filing your taxes on a website/electronically. If you can expect to get in swift and certain trouble for impersonating a police officer, wouldn't you assume that the IRS/FBI can similarly prosecute people who impersonate a government agency via electronic communications?

      On another note, why couldn't they have put investigative/prosecutory powers like that into something like the TPP? That would at least have been useful.

  13. Paper by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is exactly why I fill using paper.

    1. Re:Paper by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      What exactly do you fill?

  14. We need to prioritize ease of enforcement by MikeRT · · Score: 0

    The current system was set up to control behavior, not raise revenue. That's why we don't think of tax enforcement at the federal level as the banal process it should be, as we do with local taxes. No one fears their county tax assessor like they fear a visit from the IRS because state and local tax laws are almost black and white compared to the federal income tax. If the local tax man visits you, you should have known better because 4th grade level math is the max you need to calculate your property tax bill in most areas.

    If the system were rational, there would be a flat federal income tax of 17.5% (10% to the treasury, 7.5% to FICA programs) on all earned income and capital gains. Employers would deduct 17.5% from your paycheck; banks would take 17.5% of all interest, brokerages would automatically take 17.5% of all measured profit.

    It would simultaneously let us lay off 50-75% of the IRS, make 99% of the taxpayers never dread April 15th and make no one assume that it's really the IRS talking to them unless someone shows up with a badge and a briefcase, saying it's audit time.

    1. Re:We need to prioritize ease of enforcement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The current system was set up to control behavior, not raise revenue. That's why we don't think of tax enforcement at the federal level as the banal process it should be, as we do with local taxes. No one fears their county tax assessor like they fear a visit from the IRS because state and local tax laws are almost black and white compared to the federal income tax. If the local tax man visits you, you should have known better because 4th grade level math is the max you need to calculate your property tax bill in most areas.

      Well at least with the county I get a letter twice a year concerning my property taxes which itemizes just to what and in what percentages my taxes are going to. When it comes to the state and the fed though I have no real clue how my tax money is being spent.

    2. Re:We need to prioritize ease of enforcement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey, I wanna vote for you! You actually make sense.
      I would also add an easy fix for health care: if you show up at a clinic or hospital and can prove that you need assistance then they fix you up and send you on your way. Just get a photo, fingerprints, DNA swab taken for ID and document the problem. That would layoff huge numbers of insurance people and hospital personnel that have to try to get money from them. And eliminate all the hugely inflated, imaginary prices that hospitals charge.

    3. Re:We need to prioritize ease of enforcement by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The current system was set up to control behavior, not raise revenue. That's why we don't think of tax enforcement at the federal level as the banal process it should be, as we do with local taxes. No one fears their county tax assessor like they fear a visit from the IRS because state and local tax laws are almost black and white compared to the federal income tax. If the local tax man visits you, you should have known better because 4th grade level math is the max you need to calculate your property tax bill in most areas.

      If the system were rational, there would be a flat federal income tax of 17.5% (10% to the treasury, 7.5% to FICA programs) on all earned income and capital gains. Employers would deduct 17.5% from your paycheck; banks would take 17.5% of all interest, brokerages would automatically take 17.5% of all measured profit.

      It would simultaneously let us lay off 50-75% of the IRS, make 99% of the taxpayers never dread April 15th and make no one assume that it's really the IRS talking to them unless someone shows up with a badge and a briefcase, saying it's audit time.

      This would (sadly enough) probably crash the US economy. The overly complicated tax system supports millions of accountants and simplifying it would put them out of business (for the most part). The loss of so many incomes would cause the collapse of local economies which would have a domino effect on the national economy.
      I would love to be able to make this post in a sarcastic manner, but, sadly, this outcome is quite possible...

  15. 400% surge in phishing and malware incidents by tetraverse · · Score: 1

    What was the breakdown in terms of desktop Operating Systems in relation to these phishing and malware attacks?

  16. A "400% flood"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So that's what, four Noahs? Or just four Katrinas?

    Seriously, who writes this drivel?

  17. Thanks OPM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Yes.. 400% == 4 times more.
    Thanks to all that fresh OPM info out there, I think 4 times more means we are lucky.

  18. Happening in Canada as well by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've already had one "The CRA sent you a $500 refund" scam make it through my ISP's spam filters. Appeared to be coming out of Japan.

    CrS