Security News > 2022 > September > IRS warns Americans of massive rise in SMS phishing attacks
The Internal Revenue Service warned Americans of an exponential rise in IRS-themed text message phishing attacks trying to steal their financial and personal information in the last few weeks.
Such scam texts redirect U.S. taxpayers to phishing landing pages designed to collect sensitive information using various baits.
The sender of phishing text messages can be spoofed to make it appear that they're someone the targets are more likely to trust, such as U.S. government agencies like the IRS. Some of the most convincing and devious lures in SMS phishing are links that send the targets to pages impersonating bank sites and asking them to verify a purchase or unlock frozen credit cards.
The Federal Communications Commission issued a similar warning in July, alerting Americans of an increasing wave of SMS phishing attacks targeting their money and personal info.
"Scam SMS/text messages can also be copied and forwarded to wireless providers via text to 7726, which helps them spot and block similar messages in the future," the IRS added.
"Taxpayers and tax pros need to remain constantly vigilant with suspicious IRS-related emails and text messages. And if you get one, sending the IRS important details from the text can help us disrupt the scams and protect others."
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