Taxpayers Warned: Watch Out for Fake TurboTax Online Emails
If you received an email telling you that TurboTax Online is no longer available, they you received a scam email. Similar scams tell you your account has been deactivated due to inactivity, or suggest your refund money is being rejected by your bank. These kinds of phishing scams are posted on the Online Security Center at Intuit.
Phishing sites like these are trying to get you to click a link to a fake website where you are asked for personal and bank account information. Don’t click on these kinds of links or you are likely to fall victim of a phishing scam.
Intuit spokesperson Julie Miller says, “We take customer privacy and security very seriously. Tax season brings out a lot of these kinds of phishing scams like the TurboTax emails. We post all the information we get about these scams onto our security center page and urge customers not to open suspicious emails.”
Intuit offers this advice if you are receiving scam TurboTax emails:
* Do not open any attachments sent with the email.
* Do not forward the TurboTax emails to anyone else, except,
* Sent a copy to [email protected]
* Delete the TurboTax emails from your email inbox.
* Subscribe to a good quality anti-virus application and keep it updated.
* Install the latest patches and releases for your operating system on your computer.
* Never reply to any email asking for account numbers, credit card information, bank accounts, or passwords to any accounts.
* Intuit does not send out any software updates via email. Do not open attachments claiming to be an update.
* Ignore any text or voice mail messages requesting you to call and give your account number or PIN.
* Make sure you have strong passwords on all of your files and computers.