We are now deep into tax season as many people file between now and the April 15 deadline. This also means that we are now deep into the scam season of fraudsters and cyber criminals.
Over the years, Mashable has compiled many scams during tax season that is deer people just trying to file their taxes.
This week, Google published a post sharing their tools and tips to avoid being scammed this tax season. As the company points out, it is an annual Alloy Fraud Status Report found a 67 percent increase in fraud attempts. The most common? Tax-related return revision scams.
So, here’s what Google is doing to help.
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Scam detection on Pixel phones
Google says Pixel users receive 70 percent fewer spam calls thanks to Call Screen, a feature that detects and filters out spammers when they call your Pixel phone.
However, Google has another new layer of protection that can monitor the call in real time and warn the user when the conversation is entering a scam area. Scam Alerts is an opt-in feature of the Pixel Phone app. Using AI, Scam Detection alerts users when conversations start to sound like a scam and will send a notification, sound alert, and vibration to the device to alert the user.
Find text scams with circle to search
One common scam during tax season comes in the form of text messages or DMs on messaging apps that claim to be from the IRS or contain important information about your tax refund.
Mashable Light Speed
Google already has scam detection built into Google Messages on Android devices, but Circle to Search now offers another layer of protection.
Just long press the home button on your Android device and scroll through the potentially fake or sent message. Search Circle will check the message and let you know if it is suspicious or not.
On iOS devices, this feature can be used with Lens through the Google app. Just take a screenshot of the message, open Lens, and tap the screenshot for Google to make its decision.
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Google Safe Browsing
Google’s Chrome web browser also has its own layers of protection for users with Google Safe Browsing
Just go to Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Security, and select Advanced Security. Google Safe Browsing will scan the websites you visit against a database of known threats and notify users if they are on a phishing website or other malicious web page.
Gmail alerts
When a known scam, spam, or malware is delivered to your Gmail inbox, Google immediately flags that email to alert users about pending malicious activity.
Gmail displays “high visibility warning banners” that identify suspicious emails, links, and senders. Red or yellow banners are hard to miss and ensure that the one place scammers can take advantage of is your inbox.
Ad transparency
See an ad that seems too good to be true?
Click the three-dot icon next to any ad in Google search and go to the “About this advertiser” section. The advertiser’s name, location, and whether they’ve been verified by Google all appear here.
Google’s ad transparency tools will ensure that fraudsters aren’t manipulating search ads to carry out their programs.
