Your tax return is a ripe target for fraud. Here’s how to protect it

Thankfully, blocking this kind of scam is simple.

BY ALAIN YEE

A new year means another tax season—and all the associated headaches. That means not just navigating the byzantine maze of U.S. tax code, but dodging related scams. One particular tax scam is especially thorny since it can happen right under your nose. In an attempt to collect a refund, a fraudster files a tax return in your name. But you won’t know it until you go to file yourself and discover a mess to untangle. The risk of this happening is higher in 2025 after last year’s repeated data breaches. At this point, most everyone’s personal information (including social security numbers) is findable somewhere on the dark web. Fortunately, the IRS makes this kind of scam easy to block. On the agency’s website, you can request an identity protection PIN, a…

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PCWorld (Digital) - 1 Issue, March 2025

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