IRS Texting Scams Increasing

[Lee B]

WASHINGTON — "The Internal Revenue Service today warned taxpayers of a recent increase in IRS-themed texting scams aimed at stealing personal and financial information.

So far in 2022, the IRS has identified and reported thousands of fraudulent domains tied to multiple MMS/SMS/text scams (known as smishing) targeting taxpayers. In recent months, and especially in the last few weeks, IRS-themed smishing has increased exponentially.

Smishing campaigns target mobile phone users, and the scam messages often look like they’re coming from the IRS, offering lures like fake COVID relief, tax credits or help setting up an IRS online account. Recipients of these IRS-related scams can report them to [email protected]."

I was reading this morning that the US was the Number 1 target of Ransomware Hackers.

I have read that quite a few mid sized governmental agencies and nonprofits have been have been hacked

and held ransom this year.