Joe Kristan tweeted the following last weekend:
When a taxpayer emails his IP-PIN letter as an unencrypted attachment after his ID has been stolen… pic.twitter.com/oZIdYMZGnE
— Joe Kristan (@joebwan) January 8, 2017
As I was going through my emails this morning, one of my clients (she shall remain nameless) sent me an email with her CP01A notice attached. The CP01A notice is the IRS notice giving a victim (or potential victim) of identity theft his or her Identity Theft PIN. I suspect Joe made that post on Twitter because one of his clients did the same thing as my client.
Meanwhile, another client of mine faxed me his CP01A notice. That’s a far, far safer method of sending the Identity Theft PIN to your tax professional. You can also hand it to your tax professional or upload it using their web portal (or file transfer system—the name isn’t as relevant as the method). Mail is considered a secure means of sending things, too.
Do not email anything containing personally identifiable information such as social security numbers or dates of birth. Of course, if you want to be a victim of identity theft, go right ahead and do so. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Tags: IdentityTheft