IRS warns about identity theft scams this holiday season

Federal Newscast

Giving out your address, Social Security number, bank account number or credit card number can lead to tax-related theft and fraud.

Michele Sandiford

December 3, 2024 6:57 pm

< a min read

The IRS is raising the alarm on identity theft scams this holiday season. The agency said it’s seeing an uptick in phishing email and texts and other scams to get taxpayers to hand over their personal information. Giving out your address, Social Security number, bank account number or credit card number can lead to tax-related theft and fraud. The IRS said scammers are also sending emails that appear to come from the agency and tax professionals. The IRS is partnering with state tax agencies and the financial industry to stay on top of the latest scams.
(IRS warns of holiday scams, encourages protecting sensitive personal information - IRS)

The Justice Department wins another big payment from a federal contractor to settle allegations of violations of the False Claims Act. Gen Digital, formerly known as Symantec, agreed to pay a total of $55.1 million to conclude more than a decade of litigation. Justice said the judgment required the company to pay $16.1 million in damages and $36.8 million dollars in civil penalties. Justice said a trial court found Symantec liable for knowingly making false claims to the government when it mispresented its commercial sales practices during the negotiation and subsequent performance of a General Services Administration (GSA) contract.
(Gen Digital Pays $55.1M False Claims Act judgment for knowing overcharges to GSA - GSA Inspector General)

The Postal Service delivered mail-in ballots faster this year than in prior elections. USPS delivered more than 99-million ballots either to or from voters during this year’s general election season. That’s fewer mail-in ballots than the 20-20 general election when states expanded vote-by-mail options at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. But USPS on average took only one day to deliver ballots from voters to election officials. That’s faster than its average performance for the 2020 and 2022 general elections. Some local election boards didn’t follow USPS recommended deadlines and mailed more than 150,000 ballots less than a week out from Election Day. Another 31,000 ballots were mailed to voters on Election Day.
(USPS delivered mail-in ballots faster in 2024 than in recent years - Federal News Network )

Bipartisan legislation in the Senate would require the Department of Health and Human Services to update its cyber incident response plans. The Healthcare Cybersecurity and Resilience Act introduced late last month would also require HHS to strengthen its coordination with other agencies on cybersecurity. And the bill would infuse cybersecurity best practices into healthcare data standards regulations. The legislation is being led by Senator Bill Cassidy who’s expected to become chairman of the Health, Education, Pension and Labors Committee early next year.
(Ranking Member Cassidy, Colleagues introduce legislation to strengthen cybersecurity in health care sector - HELP Committee)

The FAR Council wants to adjust certain procurement dollar thresholds for the first time in five years. The micro-purchase threshold, the simplified acquisition threshold, the 8(a) sole source contract ceiling and several other similar acquisition limits are likely to increase in 2025. A new proposed rule by the FAR Council would adjust 10 commonly used thresholds for inflation starting in March. The council wants to increase the micro-purchase threshold to $15,000 from $10,000. It wants to increase the SAT to $350,000 from $250,000. The FAR Council also would raise the socio-economic set-aside contract threshold for 8(a), HUBZone, service disabled and women owned small businesses to $5.5 million for most non-manufacturing acquisitions. Comments on the increases are due by Jan. 28.
(Federal Acquisition Regulation: Inflation adjustment of acquisition-related thresholds - Federal Register)

The Army is offering its lieutenants an opportunity to voluntarily transfer into the service’s understrength career fields, such as adjutant general, air defense, finance, logistics and signal corps. Last year’s pilot program targeted lieutenants from the infantry and armor branches for transfer. This year, the Army’s Officer Rebranching program is expanding eligibility to lieutenants from the field artillery and engineer branches. The program will also allow lieutenants to move into functional areas such as information technology engineering, space operations, public affairs and simulations operations. Eligible officers can submit their preferences between Jan. 7 and Feb. 17.
(Army expands its officer rebranching program - Federal News Network)

Lawmakers are urging the Biden administration to follow through on classification reform. Senators Ron Wyden and Jerry Moran are pressing President Joe Biden to finalize reforms to the national security classification system before he leaves office. In a new letter to the White House, the lawmakers said the failures of the current system are well documented. And they point to testimony from leading administration officials about ongoing efforts to reform the classification system. Wyden and Moran said reforming the classification and declassification system could be a historically significant part of Biden’s legacy.
(Wyden, Moran urge Biden administration to complete revisions of executive order necessary to reform America’s broken classification and declassification system - Sen. Ron Wyden’s office)

The Space Force is piloting a Reserve Officer Training Corps-like program but for civilian careers. The program, now in its second year, allows college students at participating universities to get firsthand experience working with the Space Force. It also allows them to learn what it means to be a civilian employee in the newest military branch. Unlike the Reserve Officer Training Corps program, the pilot program guarantees students a civilian job at the Space Force upon graduation. The program allows the service to build its civilian talent pipeline.
(New program helps Space Force build civilian talent pipeline - Federal News Network )