Technologies

Tax Scams Are Preying on Last-Minute Filers

If you still haven’t filed your taxes, think before you click.

There’s less than a month to go before this year’s income tax filing deadline, and security experts are warning consumers to be on the lookout for tax-related scams and other attempts to steal their refunds and personal information.

Just a heads up that like last year, this year’s federal income tax deadline is April 18 — three days later than usual — thanks to a weekend and Emancipation Day, which is observed in Washington, DC. But the more you procrastinate, the more likely you are to fall victim to some kind of tax-related cybercrime.

Scammers can capitalize on your last-minute efforts to play catch-up if you don’t take a beat before clicking on a dubious link or handing over personal information. Either action could put you at risk for financial fraud or identity theft.

Tax-season scammers often impersonate the IRS, tax professionals or online filing websites, said David Putnam, head of identity and protection for LifeLock, a provider of consumer identity theft protections.

Phishing emails, texts and even phone calls designed to look like they’re from the IRS, or an IRS agent, are a common sight this time of year. They might threaten jail time or big fines if the targeted person doesn’t pay what the cybercriminals might claim are back or overdue taxes.

Those are all sure signs of a scam, Putnam said.

«The IRS only communicates through snail mail, so if you get a text message claiming to be from the IRS, you’ll know you’re actually being contacted by a scammer,» he said.

The IRS also doesn’t take payments in the forms of cryptocurrency or gift cards, making requests for back taxes in those forms obvious signs of a scam too.

Phishing emails could also carry fake tax forms that look like they’re coming from an employer or a bank, said Ravi Srinivasan, CEO of Votiro, a cybersecurity company that specializes in the secure transfer of data.

Srinivasan said consumers are used to getting lots of these files from lots of different places. They’re not necessarily going to think twice before opening up an attachment that could contain malware instead of a tax form.

«Do they know that it’s clean? Do they know that it’s safe?» he asked. «They don’t. They just hope that it is and the bad actors know that.»

When consumers do file, it’s critical that they make sure they’re using a legitimate tax preparation service, since tax returns are chock full of people’s most sensitive personal information, including their Social Security numbers.

Unsolicited offers to file your taxes for you should be regarded with skepticism, Putnam said. They could be part of a «ghost preparation scam,» where a cybercriminal impersonates a tax professional and promises a large refund that never appears or steals your refund by routing it to another account.

They also could collect your personal information through a website spoofing of a legitimate tax preparation service, then use it to file a false tax return and claim your refund, he said.

«Remember, if you enter any personal information on a spoofed website, scammers will have access to it,» he said.

Here are a few tips from the IRS and others for staying alert.

File early. OK. The ship may have already sort of sailed on this one, but the earlier you file, the less time cybercriminals have to use your identity to commit fraud.

Watch out for phishing and smishing. The IRS won’t send unsolicited emails or texts. Skip the links and attachments and go straight to the IRS or the applicable state and city websites.

Get a PIN. File this tip under things to remember for next year. Taxpayers who can validate their identities with the IRS can obtain an identity protection PIN, a six-digit code that prevents a cybercriminal from filing a fraudulent tax return with your Social Security number.

Fight back against fraud. If you discover someone has filed a tax return in your name, complete a paper return and include form 14039 (Identity Theft Affidavit), Putnam said. Report the fraud to local law enforcement and the Federal Trade Commission. Monitor your credit reports and account statements and contact the three major credit bureaus to ask for a freeze so that no one can request new credit in your name.

Always use good passwords and 2FA. These are both a must for any account related to your tax returns and documents. Make sure you’re using good antivirus software and that it, along with your operating system, is up to date. While you’re at it, back up your tax information to a removable drive or encrypted cloud storage. Paper copies and drives should be securely stored.

Know who you’re dealing with. If you’re self-filing online, make sure you’re using a reputable service. If you hire someone to do it for you, make sure they’re who they say they are. Be especially careful when submitting documents both online and on paper. Any decent tax professional or service will use a secure portal, not ask you to email them unprotected. Paper documents shouldn’t be left on a desk for anyone to find.

Shred everything. Tax documents that are no longer needed must be properly destroyed. Dumpster diving still happens. Don’t be tempted to toss them in the trash and definitely don’t put them in the recycling.

Technologies

How Much Energy Do Your AI Prompts Consume? Google Just Shared Its Gemini Numbers

Current measurements of AI’s impact aren’t telling the full story. Google has offered a new method it hopes to standardize.

The explosion of AI tools worldwide is increasing exponentially, but the companies that make these tools often don’t express their environmental impact in detail.

Google has just released a technical paper detailing measurements for energy, emissions and water use of its Gemini AI prompts. The impact of a single prompt is, it says, minuscule. According to its methodology for measuring AI’s impact, a single prompt’s energy consumption is about the equivalent of watching TV for less than 9 seconds.

That’s quite in a single serving, except when you consider the variety of chatbots being used, with billions of prompts easily sent every day.

On the more positive side of progress, the technology behind these prompts has become more efficient. Over the past 12 months, the energy of a single Gemini text prompt has been reduced by 33x, and the total carbon footprint has been reduced by 44x, Google says. According to the tech giant, that’s not unsubstantial, and it’s a momentum that will need to be maintained going forward.

Google did not immediately respond to CNET’s request for further comment.

Google’s calculation method considers much more

The typical calculation for the energy cost of an AI prompt ends at the active machine it’s been run on, which shows a much smaller per-prompt footprint. But Google’s method for measuring the impact of a prompt purportedly spans a much wider range of factors that paint a clearer picture, including full-system dynamic power, idle machines, data center overhead, water consumption and more.

For comparison, it’s estimated that only using the active TPU and GPU consumption, a single Gemini prompt uses 0.10 watt-hours of energy, 0.12 milliliters of water and emits 0.02 grams of carbon dioxide equivalent. This is a promising number, but Google’s wider methodology tells a different story. With more considerations in place, a Gemini text prompt uses 0.24Wh of energy, 0.26mL of water and emits 0.03 gCO2e — around double across the board.

Will new efficiencies keep up with AI use?

Through a multilayered series of efficiencies, Google is continually working on ways to make AI’s impact less burdensome, from more efficient model architectures and data centers to custom hardware.

With smarter models, use cases and tools emerging daily, those efficiencies will be critical as we immerse ourselves deeper in this AI reality.

For more, you should stop using ChatGPT for these things.

Technologies

Vivo Launches Mixed-Reality Headset, an Apple Vision Pro Competitor

Vivo Vision has many of the same design elements as Apple’s VR/AR, but is only available in China, for now.

Look-alikes of Apple products often pop up in China, and mixed-reality headsets have now joined the party. Chinese smartphone maker Vivo has introduced the Vivo Vision, a headset mixing both AR and VR, and it bears many similarities to the Apple Vision Pro.

The company announced the Vivo Vision Discovery Edition at its 30th anniversary celebration in Dongguan, China, saying it’s «the first MR product developed by a smartphone manufacturer in China, positioning Vivo as the first Chinese company to operate within both the smartphone and MR product sectors.»

The Vivo Vision, currently only an in-store experience in mainland China, has a curved glass visor, an aluminum external battery pack and downward-pointing cameras like the Vision Pro. But it also has some differences — an 180-degree panoramic field of view and a much lighter weight at 398 grams (versus the Vision Pro’s 650 grams).

CNET asked Vivo if it plans to sell the Vivo Vision to non-China markets, but the company did not immediately respond.

The Vivo Vision runs on OriginOS Vision, Vivo’s mixed-reality operating system. It supports 3D video recording, spatial photos and audio, and a 120-foot cinematic screen experience.

The starting cost in China will be $1,395 (converted to US dollars), compared to the Vision Pro at $3,500.

Even if the Vivo Vision came to the consumer market in the US, it might not matter much to Apple’s bottom line. The Vision Pro hasn’t been a big seller, likely because of the price tag. Still, the headset market is expected to grow quickly over the next several years, and Apple is already working on new versions of the Vision Pro, including one that’s more affordable than the original.

Jon Rettinger, a tech influencer with more than 1.65 million YouTube subscribers, says he’s not overly enthusiastic about VR/AR just yet. «It’s heavy, invasive and without a must-have use case,» Rettinger told CNET. «If the technology can go from goggles to glasses, I think we’ll see a significant rise. But if the current form factors stay, it will always be niche.

The YouTuber loves that the technology exists, but still doesn’t use it. «The honeymoon wore off. Aside from some gaming and content viewing, it’s still cumbersome, and I tend to go back to my laptop,» he said.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Aug. 22 #537

Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Aug. 22, No. 537.

Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Strands puzzle has a fun theme, especially if you have ever read Agatha Christie books or played a few rounds of the board game Clue. If you need hints and answers, read on.

I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far

Hint for today’s Strands puzzle

Today’s Strands theme is: Whodunit?

If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Solve the crime

Clue words to unlock in-game hints

Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:

REST, POEM, SOUR, SOURS, DIAL, HOLE, VOLE, ROLE, ROLES, VOLES, HOLES, DEEM, GAIT, SAME

Answers for today’s Strands puzzle

These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:

HEIR, LOVER, RIVAL, SPOUSE, STRANGER, DETECTIVE

Today’s Strands spangram

Today’s Strands spangram is ITSAMYSTERY, with all the answers being characters common to mystery novels. To find it, look for the I that’s the farthest left letter on the top row, and wind down.