--- title: "Just When You Thought Taxpayer Phishing Season Was Over | DuoCircle" description: "It’s not surprising that hackers use W-2 phishing scams during tax season." image: "https://www.duocircle.com/images/og-default.png" canonical: "https://www.duocircle.com/blog/phishing-protection/just-when-you-thought-taxpayer-phishing-season-was-over/" --- Quick Answer W-2 phishing scams typically target accounting, controller, and HR staff during tax season by impersonating CFOs or CEOs requesting urgent W-2 data. The newer twist: scammers exploit taxpayer anger over refund changes from the 2017 tax law, using outrage as the social-engineering hook rather than authority. Anger cuts across generational lines, so the attack surface is broader than the millennial-focused scams of prior years. Avoiding social-media outrage helps, but the technical control that scales is real-time link-click protection that re-scans every URL on click against multiple reputation feeds, so a click on a malicious link still gets blocked even if the user falls for the lure. Cloud-based phishing protection deploys in about 10 minutes on top of any major mailbox provider. Share [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fjust-when-you-thought-taxpayer-phishing-season-was-over%2F "Share on LinkedIn") [ ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Just%20When%20You%20Thought%20Taxpayer%20Phishing%20Season%20Was%20Over&url=undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fjust-when-you-thought-taxpayer-phishing-season-was-over%2F "Share on X/Twitter") [ ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fjust-when-you-thought-taxpayer-phishing-season-was-over%2F "Share on Facebook") [ ](https://reddit.com/submit?url=undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fjust-when-you-thought-taxpayer-phishing-season-was-over%2F&title=Just%20When%20You%20Thought%20Taxpayer%20Phishing%20Season%20Was%20Over "Share on Reddit") [ ](mailto:?subject=Just%20When%20You%20Thought%20Taxpayer%20Phishing%20Season%20Was%20Over&body=Check out this article: undefined%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fjust-when-you-thought-taxpayer-phishing-season-was-over%2F "Share via Email") ![phishing season](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2019/06/dmarc-generator-5468.jpg) It’s not surprising that hackers use [W-2 phishing scams](https://www.csoonline.com/article/3179625/w-2-scams-phishing-and-the-end-of-one-size-fits-all-security-awareness.html) during tax season. _Taking advantage of topical and popular subjects is at the heart of social engineering_. But, the W-2 scams don’t usually target taxpayers. According to the article on CSO Online, “The W-2 scam tries to take advantage of folks in accounting, controller and HR roles by presenting urgent requests for employee W-2 information. These messages arrive during a time of the year when individuals in these roles fully expect to receive messages from time-stressed CFOs or even CEOs requesting urgent action.” [![phishing attacks](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2019/06/spf-record-checker-6573.jpg)](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2019/06/spf-record-checker-6573.jpg) Hackers, being the clever folks that they are, have now figured out a way to extend tax season scams by going after taxpayers. Apparently Americans are angry that the new Trump tax law didn’t result in larger refunds. And _anger, or any strong emotion, is what hackers try to exploit in **phishing attacks**._ According to an article on [CPA Practice Advisor](https://web.archive.org/web/20210922031226/https://www.cpapracticeadvisor.com/tax-compliance/news/21072464/how-emotions-could-leave-taxpayers-vulnerable-to-a-phishing-attack), “One significant but underreported unintended consequence of the Trump tax cuts is how taxpayer anger is leading to the proliferation of new **social engineering attack techniques**, ones that play to the heightened emotions of those who feel wronged by the Administration, Congress, the IRS or a combination thereof.” While phishing attacks in the past were primarily [targeted at millennials](https://www.marketwatch.com/story/this-age-group-is-most-likely-to-fall-for-a-phone-scam-this-tax-season-2018-03-27), the current wave exploiting anger cuts across generational lines. The article correctly points out that “For hackers and cyber criminals, it doesn’t matter whether or not taxpayer anger is justified. What does matter to them is that a portion of the U.S. population is very unhappy, and as such, highly susceptible to a well-crafted social engineering attack.” [![cloud-based phishing protection](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2019/06/spf-record-7215.jpg)](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2019/06/spf-record-7215.jpg) The article goes on to give two pieces of advice to avoid becoming a victim: avoid outrage on social media and don’t leave comments in forums or new sites. Both are good advice, but by themselves, insufficient. In addition to the aforementioned advice, what the article should have added is to purchase low-cost, **cloud-based phishing protection technology** for those times you just have to get something off your chest. Getting angry is part of being human. Asking people to control that anger isn’t practical. What is practical is taking advantage of technology that never gets angry. If you think that sounds like a good idea, head on over to [cloud-based phishing protection](/email/phishing-protection) with **Advanced Threat Defense** risk free for 30 days. You’ll be protected in 10 minutes, and that should bring a smile to your face. ![Brad Slavin](https://media.mailhop.org/dmarcreport/images/team/brad-slavin.jpg) Brad Slavin General Manager General Manager at DuoCircle. Product strategy and commercial lead across the email security portfolio. ## Secure your email infrastructure Protect, authenticate, and deliver. Contact our team to find the right solution. [Contact Sales](/contact/) [Explore Products](/products/) Share this article [ ](https://www.linkedin.com/sharing/share-offsite/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.duocircle.com%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fjust-when-you-thought-taxpayer-phishing-season-was-over%2F) [ ](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?text=Just%20When%20You%20Thought%20Taxpayer%20Phishing%20Season%20Was%20Over&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.duocircle.com%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fjust-when-you-thought-taxpayer-phishing-season-was-over%2F) [ ](https://www.facebook.com/sharer/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.duocircle.com%2Fblog%2Fphishing-protection%2Fjust-when-you-thought-taxpayer-phishing-season-was-over%2F) Copy Related Articles - [ ![AI-Generated Phishing](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2026/04/spf-record-4522.jpg) AI-Generated Phishing Has Eliminated the Typo: Why Traditional Email Filters Are No Longer Enough Phishing ](/blog/ai-generated-phishing-eliminates-typos-making-traditional-email-filters-ineffective/) - [ ![spf-permerror-4555](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2023/05/spf-permerror-4555.jpg) 10 Applications of ChatGPT that Hackers Are Already Exploiting Phishing ](/blog/phishing-protection/10-applications-of-chatgpt-that-hackers-are-already-exploiting/) - [ ![Email-Based Cyber-Attacks](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2016/03/spf-record-tester-4455.jpg) 65% of Global Businesses Ill-Equipped to Defend Against Email-Based Cyber-Attacks Phishing ](/blog/phishing-protection/65-global-businesses-ill-equipped-defend-email-based-cyber-attacks/) - [ ![Email-based Ransomware Attacks](https://media.mailhop.org/duocircle/images/2018/02/email-smtp-service-7834.jpg) 7 Ways to Protect Your Organization from Email-based Ransomware Attacks Phishing ](/blog/phishing-protection/7-ways-protect-organization-email-based-ransomware-attacks/) ## Related Articles [ Phishing 11m AI-Generated Phishing Has Eliminated the Typo: Why Traditional Email Filters Are No Longer Enough Apr 28, 2026 ](/blog/ai-generated-phishing-eliminates-typos-making-traditional-email-filters-ineffective/)[ Phishing 5m 10 Applications of ChatGPT that Hackers Are Already Exploiting May 3, 2023 ](/blog/phishing-protection/10-applications-of-chatgpt-that-hackers-are-already-exploiting/)[ Phishing 4m 65% of Global Businesses Ill-Equipped to Defend Against Email-Based Cyber-Attacks Mar 29, 2016 ](/blog/phishing-protection/65-global-businesses-ill-equipped-defend-email-based-cyber-attacks/)[ Phishing 9m 7 Ways to Protect Your Organization from Email-based Ransomware Attacks Feb 11, 2018 ](/blog/phishing-protection/7-ways-protect-organization-email-based-ransomware-attacks/) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Organization","name":"DuoCircle LLC","url":"https://www.duocircle.com","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://www.duocircle.com/images/duocircle-logo.png"},"description":"DuoCircle is a portfolio of specialized email products covering protection, authentication, delivery, and routing. 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