April is the big tax month in both the U.K. and the U.S. and also the start of the tax phishing season.

Filing tax returns online is an increasingly common option for many tax payers, but whilst it is very convenient and suits tax payers as well as the government, it is also a dream for phishers.

Phishing concerns sending emails claiming to be from a bank, or merchant site, and encourages the recipient to click on a link to update their details. If they don’t, claims the email, their service will be discontinued. The tricked person then, in a panic, connects to the site which they don’t realise is a fake. There they enter personal and financial information, which the owner of the fake website then sells onto criminals who use it to commit theft.

And the tax season presents the phishers with a lot of opportunities to trick people to disclose valuable information. It’s currently a bigger problem in the U.S. but it’s being seen in other countries as well. The approach is quite simple. The phisher creates a mock IRS, or Inland Revenue email, and suggests that in order to complete an online tax return, then, or later, they must quickly update their settings.

The worried recipient clicks on the link and finds themselves directed to what they think is the official IRS, or Inland Revenue website, but in reality, is a fake. They then do as they are instructed, proving personal and financial information, which is removed from the fake site and sold to criminals.

And the phishers are becoming increasingly subtle. So the email might promise a tax refund, tax form filling help, or information on the latest rules, but they all should be treated with the scepticism they deserve.

Some bogus websites also offer to complete a person’s tax form, by offering appropriate software and calculations. If the unlucky target of the phishing trip actually completes a bogus website questionnaire, they could have effectively laid themselves bare to being robbed blind.

As with all phishing attacks, recipients are warned never to use the link offered in an email and if they want to contact one of the tax websites, then they are best to go to the website directly.

Guest Article by Neil Camp