Preventing ID Theft After Tax Day
This blog post applies to personal identity protection, but the recommendations make good sense for any computing environment. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) reported that a record 77 million tax returns were filed electronically for tax year 2006. The number of electronic filers is expected to surpass that number for tax year 2007 returns, which are due today.
"Anyone who has filed their taxes this way and has their personally identifiable information stored unprotected in their computer is vulnerable to the ever-growing threat of electronic identity theft," noted a statement issued today by Identity Finder, a maker of software that prevents identity theft.
Identity Finder cited a recent Associated Press report that stated, "Fraudulent tax returns filed as a result of identity theft jumped more than six-fold over the past five years."
The company provided the following list of tips to prevent identity theft post-April 15.
1) When storing a copy of your tax return on your computer, make sure you secure it with a password so that your Social Security Number cannot be read if the file is lost.
2) Securely delete all electronic, financial documents used to prepare your tax returns so any personal information is safe.
3) Ignore all refund/ rebate/ warning e-mails claiming to come from the IRS and never click on links within those e-mails (most likely a phishing attack).
4) Do not provide personal information to anyone calling you claiming to be from the IRS; the IRS already has your information and the caller is likely to be an identity thief.
5) Check your credit report with one of the three credit bureaus for free every four months to make sure your identity hasn't already been stolen.
6) Install the latest updates to your operating system so known Windows or Mac vulnerabilities can't be exploited by hackers.
7) Don't save your password in your Web browser when accessing banks and other institutions that keep your personal information because it could be leaked if you ever get a virus, Trojan, or are hacked.
8) If you provided your bank account and routing information to the IRS for payment or refunds, check your bank accounts to ensure the proper transfer occurred.
9) Visit your bank account online and set up alerts on your accounts to monitor when high amounts of cash are withdrawn.
10) Make sure you do not receive incorrect payment liability or refund information; a thief could have filed a tax return on your behalf fraudulently. If you suspect tax preparation fraud, call your state tax department toll-free at 1-888-675-9437.