Fraudulent Emails Target Tax Professionals
Scammers are continuing to target tax professionals.
This morning, I received three of these rather authentic warnings ostensibly from the AICPA. The text (in case you can’t make it out) says:
Cancellation of Public Account Status due to income tax fraud allegations
Valued accountant officer,
We have received a complaint about your recent involvement in income tax refund fraud on behalf of one of your employers. According to AICPA Bylaw Section 765 your Certified Public Accountant status can be cancelled in case of the occurrence of filing of a false or fraudulent income tax return on the member’s or a client’s behalf.
Please find the complaint below below and respond to it within 14 days. The failure to respond within this period will result in suspension of your CPA license.
Even though it looks authentic, there were a number of warning signs in the email. I’m not a CPA. The emails were sent from three different people (Walter Ellison, Eve Pruitt, and Estela Barron). The grammar is awkward. And finally, while the AICPA is the world’s largest association representing the accounting profession, it would not be the first line of communication about suspected tax fraud: that would be the IRS and they would not contact you via email.
The source of the email is not the AICPA but actually Bangalore, India.
Do not click on any of the links. The link actually doesn’t take you to AICPA but to another site which likely hosts malware or other software meant to steal your identity.
There is also appears to be an attachment. Don’t click on it. It’s actually a cleverly disguised link.
Delete, delete, delete.
