Five warning signs to avoid cyber-scams in the 2022 Tax Return campaign.

• The cybersecurity company S2 Grupo has explained that this year there has been an increase in phishing cyberattacks, especially cases of phishing and smishing.

• The aim is always to obtain personal data and, in particular, to obtain bank details.

Valencia June 14, 2023.- The Valencian company S2 Grupo, specialized in cybersecurity and critical systems management, has warned that this year during the development of the 2022 income tax return campaign an increase in phishing and smishing type cybercrimes has been detected.

"Mainly, what we are finding is that cybercriminals are trying to carry out numerous impersonations. The technique is very simple, through email or by telephone they pretend to be representatives of the Tax Agency to obtain private information from taxpayers", explained José Rosell, managing partner of S2 Grupo.

"Although this is a practice that has been going on for years, the increase in these cybercrimes is growing. The aim is always to obtain personal data and, in particular, to obtain bank details. It is essential to be aware that we can all be victims of cybercriminals. In order to be protected in connected environments, it is essential to know the possible threats that we can face and not to be overconfident, which can put us in a highly vulnerable position", said Miguel A. Juan, managing partner of S2 Grupo.

The cybersecurity company's team explained that both phishing and smishing are social engineering methods in which cybercriminals try to impersonate the Tax Agency with highly corporate messages including, of course, the logo of this entity and adding a web link. In the first case they do it by email and in the second by phone, usually through messages.

"The web pages to which these links lead are so well done that if we don't pay attention we can fall into the trap, enter our data and offer these criminals what they are looking for without realizing it", commented José Rosell.

Five warning signs to avoid being a victim of cyber-scams in the current income tax campaign

1. Receiving an email from someone unknown or suspicious account - If we receive an email, we must make sure we know the sender, check if the email address is correct or has some strange character. Many times they play with changing a small feature like adding a dot, a hyphen, then it is barely noticeable  and we fall for it.
2. Always be suspicious when you receive an email supposedly from an official entity and it contains spelling and/or grammatical mistakes in the message
3. Be wary if we receive a message requesting our data to return what we are entitled to - this is always done automatically, so it would show that we are facing a probable case of cyber-scam.
4. Always distrust emergency calls or messages that require an immediate execution threatening that if not, we will lose what we are entitled to: cybercriminals take advantage of the fear that this generates, to obtain the data they want in a moment of confusion.
5. Emails with attachments or links from unknown senders are usually fraudulent. The recommendation is not to open them and not to click on those links.

S2 Grupo has informed that, as the Tax Agency itself explains on its website, this entity will never ask for personal or bank details by email or SMS, nor will it send attachments, invoices, etc. So, in case of receiving it, it is a red alert for a case of cybercrime.