Delaware Department of Finance says phishing scam uptick during this time of year

Every day, people become victim to phone scams or phishing scams that is costing them their cash as well as their time. As the tax season is approaching, there is uptick of phishing scam during this time of the year says Delaware Department of Finance.

The most common method by which the cybercriminals obtain personal information - such as bank account info, social security numbers or credit cards info - is by simply asking for them by email or over the phone. However, Jennifer Hudson, Director in Delaware's Division of Revenue, says that the state never contact any tax payee by those means.

"Any correspondence that we send to a taxpayer is going to be coming via the U.S. Postal Service and is going to be sent on letterhead that clearly identifies it as having been from the Division of Revenue," said Hudson.

Hudson added to remain vigilant while checking the emails, as the scammers have numerous tricks. She said that the scammers will even attempt spoofing any familiar email address. "One of the things that we've identified as having happened is people will substitute letters to make it look like a different letter. So for example, an 'r' and an 'n' together in text can sometimes look like an 'm'," said Hudson.

Hudson urges the people to remain skeptical of emails and phone calls asking for personal information. Moreover, she warns that one should never click on hyperlinks or attachment from suspicious or unknown emails, and also recommends people to use the security software in order to protect themselves from phishing scams.

Some other steps that the taxpayers can take for protecting themselves from phishing as well as other email scams are: while reading the emails, one should never open an attachment from suspicious or unknown source; should never click on hyperlinks when in doubt and instead go directly to main web page of the source; use strong passwords for protecting online accounts like the password must be at least of 10 digits and must include numbers, letters, along with special characters; and use multi-factor authentication if offered.

In case you think that you become a scam victim, then you can contact Tax Fraud Hotline in Division of Revenue at (302) 577-8958.

» SPAMfighter News - 1/16/2019