In a world that’s built on technology, nothing is more important than security. Your small actions make a big difference for your security, both at home and at Johnson & Wales.
IT'S TAX SEASON
It’s the beginning of the brand-new year, but that also means it’s the annual tax filing season. With that in mind, lets remind ourselves of the best cyber security practices to follow in order to maintain a safe season from identity fraud and potential scams. The U.S. Internal Revenue Service has identified Tax Refund Fraud as its No. 1 fraud scam! Identity thieves are using stolen personally identifiable information to file victims’ tax returns and then receive their refunds. Here’s how they do it and ways to combat and prevent it.
Due to paperless e-filing, this scam is easier to pull off than ever before. Thieves can simply make up phony wages or other income, submit the information electronically and receive the fraudulent refund via mail or direct deposit within a month. Of course, the IRS keeps records of earned wages and other types of taxable income reported by taxpayers’ employers and other organizations. However, the IRS doesn’t match these records to information submitted electronically by identity thieves until several months after it issues refund checks. By the time the IRS tells the victim that it has received another tax form in his or her name, the thief has cashed the refund check and is long gone with the money. The identity thief wins, and the U.S. Treasury and the victimized taxpayer are the losers.
Signs that you may be a victim of identity theft include: receiving a letter from the IRS about a suspicious tax return, an IRS notice of an online account being created in your name, IRS record indicating you received wages from an employer you didn’t work for, or being assigned an EIN number without requesting. Additionally, be cautious of scams and phishing methods that are used to retrieve your PII (Personally Identifiable Information). You may receive calls from the “IRS”, texts from the “IRS”, and emails from the “IRS”.
Be sure to report and don’t respond to these contacts as the IRS will only contact you through mail with a government envelope, with the IRS seal. Here are some ways you can protect yourself
- Identity theft protection service
- Implementing strong passwords with Multi-Factor Authentication
- Credit Monitoring
- Reviewing any credit/bank reports on a consistent basis.
Make your 2023 Tax Season identity theft and problem free!
Information
The Office of Information Security Services (ISS) aims to facilitate and further the Mission and Guiding Principles of the University while maximizing the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of the JWU’s distributed information technology assets, systems, networks, and data.
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