Benjamin Franklin once wrote, “‘In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” These days we can add to the certainty of those two inevitable events with the addition of the annual scams that accompany tax time.
For those of you who haven’t heard of this type of scam, it’s basically another way to separate a man from his money, or if you want to look at the bigger picture, a way to defraud the federal government. Either way, your wallet suffers. The financial website money-zine has a good article on the latest tax scams you may encounter on the Web.
In February, the U.S. Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued several warnings about cybercrooks that use the IRS name or logo to gain access to consumers’ financial information in order to steal their identity and assets. Read Suspicious e-Mails and Identity Theft so you will know it when you see it.
Our friend Corrine, Microsoft MVP, wrote an article recently for Windows Live that gives you useful tips, especially if you are still using Windows XP. Read Its Income Tax Time – Avoid Tax Fraud to find out what you need to do to secure your computer before using an online tax preparation service.