Don’t Let Seasonal Scams Ruin Your Q4

Long gone are the days of the poorly-written email scams. Nowadays, phishing attacks are sophisticated, AI-generated lures that know just how to trick even the most vigilant employees. To keep your business from becoming just another statistic in the growing number of at-risk organizations, you need to know the difference between legitimate messages and the fake ones, and that starts by knowing what to look for.

Today, we want to look at two specific times in the year where fraudulent activity spikes: tax season and the holiday season. That said, These tips apply regardless of the time of year, so keep them in mind at all times!

The Delivery Delay

Between November and January, your inbox will get flooded with shipping notifications. Hackers count on the “click first, think later” mentality that springs up during these times of the year.

You might receive realistic-looking texts or emails stating that your package delivery is pending and you need to verify your address by clicking a link. Before you know it, you’ve accidentally given up your login credentials or installed a keylogger on your device. Train your team to think with source-first rule in mind; never click a link in a notification, and instead opt to look through the official carrier’s website.

This way, you’re only looking through official channels that you can trust, not random text messages.

The Audit Scare

Fear is one of the most powerful motivators out there, and during tax season, hackers will pivot from prizes to penalties.

Let’s say you receive an email with an official-looking government header claiming that there’s a discrepancy in your 2025 filing. The same message might require an immediate PDF report download so you can avoid the fines. This PDF, however, is an executable file that launches ransomware and encrypts your entire network. In situations like this,  you need to remind your team of how the IRS and other major financial institutions communicate with your business.

Long story short, they’ll never initiate contact by email or text to ask you for sensitive information, and if it’s urgent, they’ll somewhat ironically send you communication through snail mail or your secure accountant portal.

The Urgent Wire Transfer

Year-end is a busy time for accounting departments, and hackers take advantage of the chaos by impersonating leadership.

For example, a high-priority email appearing to come from the CEO or another executive asks for their bookkeeper to “quickly settle an overdue vendor invoice” via wire transfer or Zelle. These types of attacks bypass standard approval processes during the year-end rush. We recommend you implement a multi-channel verification process where any payment or urgent wire transfer must be verified through a second channel.

While it might be slightly inconvenient to hound someone on the phone or a face-to-face conversation, it sure beats explaining how you got fooled into transferring thousands of dollars to an offshore bank account.

The Security Stress Test

Before any high-volume phishing season begins, we recommend you conduct a phishing simulation for your staff.

You can provide a safe environment for your team to make (and learn from) mistakes. If they click on the simulated “bad link,” they get an immediate 30-second training video explaining what they missed. Teams that run regular simulations are significantly less likely to click on real-world phishing links during the high season, so it’s worth implementing for that reason alone.

The best defense against seasonal fraud is a better-prepared team. When your staff know what to be on the lookout for, they can transform what most hackers deem to be your biggest vulnerability into your business’ greatest weapon: a stronger layer of protection.

Accucom can help you get there with cybersecurity training and powerful security solutions designed to eliminate weak points in your network. Learn more today by calling us at (02) 8825-5555.