The Internal Revenue Service is dealing with a huge data breach which has exposed the personal information of more than 100-thousand taxpayers. It's the latest cyber attack and one that is especially worrisome because of all the personal information identity thieves can cull from the standard tax return.



"You'd be surprise at first how much usable information is on each tax return - and in some cases how lax IRS cyber security is",  says Tax Pro and owner of Happy Tax Mario Costanz (www.happytax.com). As the owner of a nationwide tax preparation service Mario knows intimately the potential damage of this latest breach.



According to the IRS, criminals used taxpayer-specific data acquired from non-IRS sources to gain unauthorized access to information on the tax accounts. The data included Social Security information, birth dates and street addresses.




To keep your identity safe now go to

Massive IRS Identity Theft Breach Reeking Havoc--Episode 8

Don't be an identity theft victim. This show focuses on the alarming epidemic of Identity Theft and what you can do to avoid it.

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Nick Paras joined us to explains how to protect your Android phone/tablet. Hackers/identity thieves never sleep. We keep all sorts of valuable information on our phones and it's very scary to think that all of your data that you keep near and dear to you could be stolen in an instant. If things go really bad you need a current back-up so you can restore them and get your phone running quickly and properly.

Nick Paras--Androids Phones/Tables Are More Vulnerable Than Ever Show #50a

The fraudsters are out there trying to get your password info so they can uncover other sites where you're using the same password. Heather says that you should use a different password for every site you subscribe to. That's truly the only way you can stay safe. Remember human psychology is always in play, you're either avoiding pain or you're seeking pleasure. The fraudsters capitalize on this by threatening dire consequences if you don't click that button or make that call or give out your credit card number. Fear is a much better motivator than pleasure because it taps into the survival instinct.

Heather Wagenhals--Don't Get Spear Phished! #50

Heather Wagenhals has always had a particular revulsion against
scammers who exploit the elderly and the ignorant and steal their
money, often their life's savings. Now Heather is compiling a list
of scams around the country. She's put herself onto so-called
"Sucker Lists," and is being voluntarily inundated with scammers.
She records their calls and the phone number they're calling from,
along with any suspect websites. Then she pushes them out on the
web as warning to the unsuspecting. Scammers beware, there's a new
sheriff in town!

Heather Wagenhals On The Warpath Against Fraudsters #49

Heather Wagenhals has always had a particular revulsion against scammers who exploit the elderly and the ignorant and steal their money, often their life's savings. Now Heather is compiling a list of scams around the country. She's put herself onto so-called "Sucker Lists," and is being voluntarily inundated with scammers. She records their calls and the phone number they're calling from, along with any suspect websites. Then she pushes them out on the web as warning to the unsuspecting. Scammers beware, there's a new sheriff in town!

Heather Wagenhals On The Warpath Against Fraudsters #48

Ransomware seems to be springing up all over. Imagine you're working on your computer one and find out that someone has encrypted your data and is demanding a Bitcoin payment to give you the key to unlock it. It's not just businesses that it's happening to, individuals are getting hit now too. Your best bet is to backup early and often. Then you should be able to get out of it with your data intact. Remember, backup early and often! Two backups minimum, local and a cloud backup service.

Massive IRS Identity Theft Breach Reeking Havoc--Episode 8

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