P.N.F Warns Health Care Professionals About Tax Phishing Scams

EAST BRUNSWICK, N.J. - Feb. 5, 2016 - PRLog -- It was only two years since UC Davis Health System was forced to notify 1,800 patients that their personal medical information, sent through email, may have been compromised.

UC’s medical staff began to notice problems when they discovered their emails were randomly deleted and used to send to addresses that weren't a part of the health system network. This major phishing scam was used to potentially steal passwords and retrieve personal financial information.

Medical professionals should still be on high alert, especially during the tax season, according to Pishoy Fahmi, CPA, owner of P.N.F. Certified Public Accountants & Healthcare Advisors.

What is email phishing? Phishing can be compared to bait that is used to hook and catch a victim. It consists of spam email that appears to be legitimate.  Most spam emails are filtered and sent to spam folders. However, some emails slip through the cracks. It’s crucial that people protect themselves.

The purpose of tax phishing is to lure people to provide their personal information, such as their social security number, passwords, credit card numbers and bank account information. Many of these counterfeit emails may appear legitimate because they may contain a physical address and phone number of a specific IRS location.

“Phishing scams may also contain links to websites that are infected with malicious malware,” Fahmi warns. “Malware is a major threat to health care professionals because it can corrupt computer files and even cause an entire system to crash.”

He also wants people to know that the IRS will never contact a taxpayer by email. When an unsolicited email from the IRS appears in the inbox, Fahmi advises people that these emails should be reported and deleted immediately.

Fahmi recommends the following steps when medical staff receive unsolicited IRS emails:

1. Never reply to the email.

2. Avoid opening any document attachments. Emails may contain a code that can infect an entire computer system.

3. Forward the email to phishing@irs.gov.

4. Delete the email.


About P.N.F. Certified Public Accountants & Healthcare Advisors

P.N.F. specializes in tax auditing, accounting, payroll services, business advisory services for companies within the health field and much more. For further information about the company’s accounting practice, contact P.N.F. Certified Public Accountants & Healthcare Advisors at: (732) 605-1529 or visit them online at: http://www.pnfcpa.com.