In the wake of a massive cyberattack and subsequent phishing scam targeting Anthem insurance policyholders, the state Department of Revenue Services is putting tax refunds on hold in an effort to protect against fraud.
Department of Revenue Services Commissioner Kevin Sullivan warned residents to look out for emails entitled "Your TurboTax account: Update your information" possibly sent from the email address whiskers83@netzero.com. Concerned TurboTax users are urged to call 800-944-8596.
As a precaution, we are holding refunds pending further review on Monday and making some adjustments in our own screening. Our refunds are multiply screened for potential fraud but the concern here is that taxpayers may have unknowingly provided the requisite personally identifiable information in reply to the bogus email request to update information,” Sullivan said in a statement Friday.
The email scams are not limited to Connecticut, and TurboTax also briefly stopped processing state tax returns Friday but had resumed by about 3 p.m. Pacific Time, or 6 p.m. Eastern Time, according to parent company Intuit.
Sullivan said Connecticut has not seen a spike in fraudulent filings, but "we simply do not yet have enough information from our discussions with FTA and Intuit to know."
It comes in the wake of a massive computer hack that has compromised the personal information of up to 1.4 million Connecticut residents. Anthem became aware of the hack Jan. 27, but it was only brought to the attention of the state Wednesday, according to Gov. Dannel Malloy.
