On January 25, the Better Business Bureau issued a warning about a new email phishing scam that targets the users of Intuit’s QuickBooks accounting software programs. The scam email contains a subject line of “QuickBooks Support: Change Request” and looks like a legitimate email from Intuit. The body of the email requests a confirmation about a change in the business name and includes a hyperlink for the recipient to click on in order to cancel the change request (which was never requested in the first place). If the email recipient clicks on this hyperlink, they are taken to a site that downloads malware onto their device – computer, tablet, or phone. This malware allows the scammers to capture passwords and other personal information from the device.
You can often spot such scam emails by:
- Checking the reply email address of such messages. Often the reply email address will be a similar, but not exact address – look for misspellings and added numbers or characters within the address.
- “Hover” over (but do not click on) embedded links within the email to see the Web domain that such links will take you to. Again, look for misspellings, added numbers or characters, or foreign countries shown within the link’s address.
- Consider how a company usually contacts you, and whether or not the request is unusual. (i.e. You didn’t request a change in name with QuickBooks and received the message mentioned above.)
Scammers are becoming better at impersonating actual companies and will go to great lengths to fool the recipients of their emails – even including corporate or government logos. Individuals and companies should discuss such email issues with their families and/or employees to make sure they ask before clicking on any link within an email that they are unsure about.
Should you find yourself the recipient of such an email and in need of additional information, please feel free to reach out to our office and ask to speak with one of our tax professionals.