Have you filed your tax return yet? If not, someone else might have filed one for you. During tax season, cyber criminals are eager to steal personal and financial information. Identity theft is a common tax crime and taxpayers are estimated to lose up to $5.2 billion annually due to tax identity theft.1 If a scammer obtains personally identifiable information (PII), they can easily take advantage of individuals by filing tax returns on their behalf and pocketing the refund issued by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
To safeguard your personal information:
n File your taxes as early as possible. This reduces the risk of tax fraud, as scammers depend on taxpayers filing taxes late in order to steal their refunds.
n Actively monitor and review your credit report for suspicious activity. Use free credit reports to monitor for suspicious account activities.
n Avoid giving out your social security number. Ask if there are other forms of identification you can use such as your driver’s license identification number or mailing address.
n Check your annual Social Security Administration earnings statement. If you see earnings that you do not recognize, report them to the IRS. This could be a scammer using your identity to obtain employment.
Watch out for these warning signs that your identity has been compromised:
n Your tax return is rejected because a tax return with a duplicate social security number has already been filed.
n You received income information from an unknown employer showing wages that you did not earn.
n You received a notice from the IRS that your tax refund has already been issued even though you haven’t filed your tax return yet.
n You received a notice from the IRS that you failed to declare all of your income when you accurately filed your taxes.
n You received a tax transcript that you did not request in the mail.
n You received a collections notice from the IRS even though you did not have to file taxes based on income threshold.
Please report any suspicious activity encountered on Postal Service™ systems, networks, or equipment to the CyberSecurity Operations Center (CSOC) at CyberSafe@usps.gov. For more information, see the following:
n For tax identity theft, visit the IRS website at https://www.irs.gov/individuals/identity-protection. If you believe you’ve been a victim of tax fraud, report it the IRS2.
n To report suspected threats to the Postal Service, visit the public-facing CyberSafe at USPS™ website at https://uspscybersafe.com or the CyberSafe at USPS pages on Blue (https://blue.usps.gov/cyber/) and LiteBlue (https://liteblue.usps.gov/cyber/).
— Corporate Information Security Office,
Chief Information Security Officer
and Digital Solutions, 3-16-17
