New Episode Alert EP107

How to Prevent Tax Identity Theft 🔥

February 10, 2020

Weekly Blaze PodcastEpisode 107February 10 2020

Preventing Tax Identity TheftThe FTC and RobocallersGoogle Photos Incident Details

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Preventing Tax Identity Theft and other Tax Scams

Tax season is once again upon us and that means we all need to be aware of

. So what is tax identity theft? Well this happens when someone uses your social security number to file a phony tax return to collect your refund. If this happens to you, you won't know it until you try to file your real tax return and the IRS rejects it because it’s a duplicate. Other scams to be aware of include receiving a phone call from someone claiming to be from the IRS and demanding payment for backed taxes. Suspiciously, the caller wants you to pay right now with a gift card or prepaid debit card. If you don't, they will threaten that you'll be arrested.

So what should you do so that you don't become a victim this tax season? First, protect your social security number and don't give it out to anyone that asks. Sure, your social security number isn't impossible for a dedicated attacker to find out on their own, but don't make it easy for them by just giving it away. Next, file your tax return as early as possible. This means that as soon as you get your W2's, start your filing right away. And if you happen to receive a call from someone saying that they are from the IRS, don't give out any information, write down the number and name of the caller, hang up, and report the call to the FTC at ftc.gov/complaint or via phone at 877-FTC-HELP. Even better, don't pick up calls from unknown callers and if you really do think you owe back taxes, contact the IRS directly. The IRS will never call you to say you owe backed taxes. Lastly, spread the word and educate friends and family about these tax scams. Education and awareness can go a long way protecting yourself and others this tax season.

FTC warns VoIP providers that help robocallers: we can and will sue

Speaking of the FTC, did you know that

to 19 voice-over-IP service providers stating that

to the tune of $43,000 for each and every robocall that goes through their system? And this isn't just a threat, the FTC did just that in December of last year in which they sued a voice-over-IP provider for facilitating gift card scams and back in May of 2018 the FTC sued technology companies that were providing auto dialer technology that robocallers use in their phone scams. Now, if you're like me, you get countless robocalls almost every day. In fact, recent statistics show that there are 200 million robocalls that flood US phones every day, so these recent actions from the FTC seems like the right approach by targeting the providers that give robocallers the means to conduct these calls. The FTC says, "Voice-over-IP service providers play a unique role in the robocall ecosystem, allowing fraudsters and abusive telemarketers to call consumers at a fraction of a penny per minute. These warning letters put voice-over-IP providers on notice that we will take action when they knowingly facilitate illegal robocalls."

So if you're one of these voice-over-IP providers assisting in the spread of robocalls, consider yourself on notice.

Google Photos accidentally sent people’s private videos to strangers

Last week Google apologized for a security issue that

. Apparently there was a bug in the Google Photos export function called "Google Takeout" between November 21st and November 25th last year and affected about 0.01% of users attempting to export their data. Keep in mind, Google Photos has over a billion users so there could have been thousands of people affected. Google has since stated that they have fixed the issue and have notified Google users impacted by the breach.

The key takeaway from this recent incident is that there is always a trade off when it comes to convenience and the potential risk of a security or privacy breach with your data. There is a reason that there are over a billion users of Google Photos. Well it's free and offers unlimited storage! But the tradeoff is that Google gets all the juicy metadata and the ability to train it's AI and machine learning engines using the photos of your friends, family, and cat. Not only that, but when breaches like this happen, the company holding all your photos and videos can simply say, sorry about that it's a free service or in Google's case, it's still in beta. This is why I always recommend reading the terms of service and privacy policy for free services like these. Because while free and unlimited storage for your photos and videos may sound appealing, you have to understand the underlying reasons that a service like this is free in the first place.

JanuaryMonthly ShowEpisode 96In episode 96 of our monthly we discuss the controversy of voting by smartphone in our elections, the Jeff Bezos hacking incident, and the recent Microsoft support security breach.

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