To reiterate from past coverage: the IRS will NEVER contact someone through means other than the US Post Office. Due to a new email scam, more and more users are falling victim to correspondence that seems to be coming from the IRS about an unpaid medical coverage fee. Delving further into this most recent farce reveals that many users are continuing to make the same choices over and over again that ultimately hurt their cyber security standing and vulnerable data.
Now, here are the red flags to watch out for in this IRS/healthcare email scam:
- You received an email from the IRS: You will never receive communication from the IRS via electronic means. It will always be through the Post Office. Because they’re old.
- You received an attachment called a “CP2000 notice”: Same thing as above – while a CP2000 is used to inform the tax filer that income numbers don’t match between what was reported by the filer and a third party, this communication will always be sent by the Post Office.
- There is an address included in the email where the user should send the payment, along with a payment link: the IRS would not illicit payments from tax filers to a P.O. Box; more importantly, they wouldn’t include a direct payment link in an email because they don’t communicate via email to begin with!
All of these red flags have very obvious solutions so that potential email scam victims won’t fall prey to this most recent attack. User education, especially within a company, is paramount to the larger part of a cyber security protection solution. Not only will Neovera, as your chosen managed and monitored cyber security protection service, be able to provide 24x7x365 coverage of your vital networks and data, but you will have the extra security of arming your employee’s with the knowledge to stop a cyber attack in its tracks.