A left-leaning advocacy group that says Gilead Sciences avoided nearly $10 billion in federal taxes by shifting profits overseas is urging the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service to take action to collect those tax dollars.
Advertisement
Unsolicited email from tax software providers, it said, could be from fraudsters looking to break into customer data to steal passwords, Social Security and credit card numbers.
The IRS has issued an alert about a new phishing scam that seems to be specifically targeting tax preparers and tax accountants, but where Nigerian prince emails are so ludicrously worded as to nearly be humorous, this phishing scam is anything but amusing. The bogus software company email instructs the recipient to download the software from the included link, and once complete, the resulting virus gathers up client data and tax information. Get the targeted email recipients to click on the embedded link, which directs them to a website where their computers download malicious software. “The file has a naming convention that uses the actual name of their software followed by an “.exe extension.
Tax professionals believe they have downloaded a software update when in fact they have loaded a program created to track the tax professional’s key strokes, which is a common tactic used by cyber thieves to steal login information, passwords and other sensitive data.
The IRS said the scheme was the latest move by cybercriminals to use the agency and tax issues for criminal gain.
Advertisement
A 38-year-old Madison lost $15,000 to an IRS phone scam, according to a release from Madison police.
