It’s March.
Your accountant is buried. Your bookkeeper is scrambling. Deadlines are looming. Emails are flying faster than anyone can keep up.
Everyone’s head is down, just trying to get through the month.
This isn’t news to you.
But it isn’t news to hackers either.
Security teams and researchers consistently see a spike in phishing activity during tax season, and March is one of the easiest months for attackers to blend in. The scams aren’t always flashy or “obviously fake.” They’re designed to look like the exact kind of messages your business already expects this time of year: payroll files, vendor invoices, signature requests, updated banking details, urgent “can you send this now?” emails.
That’s not coincidence. That’s timing.
Here’s what’s coming—and four simple ways to make sure your business isn’t the easy target.
The stressed supply chain
What most businesses miss is this: attackers don’t just target accounting firms. They target the chaos around them.
When tax season hits:
Clients rush to send sensitive documents
Staff members shortcut normal checks to keep up with volume
“Just send me the file” replaces usual caution
Verification gets skipped because everyone is slammed
The whole ecosystem speeds up. And speed is where mistakes happen. Hackers don’t go after calm, methodical businesses. They go after busy ones.
March is busy.
What these attacks actually look like
This isn’t a movie plot. It’s an email that looks almost identical to the others in your inbox:
A message from “your accountant” asking you to resend W-2s because something didn’t come through
A note from a vendor saying their bank information has changed and needs updating
A DocuSign-style request for a tax document that “needs your signature today”
An urgent email from “your CEO” who’s traveling and needs help immediately
None of these feel suspicious in March. They feel normal. That’s why they work.
Why busy people get caught
This isn’t about being careless. It’s about being human.
When inboxes are full and deadlines are tight, people don’t read carefully—they scan. They assume. They react. Scammers know this. Their messages are built for people moving too fast to notice the one detail that’s off.
They don’t need you to be reckless. They just need you to be busy.
Four simple ways to not be the easy target
You don’t need a full security team to reduce your risk. You need a few intentional habits during high-pressure months.
- Verify payment changes by phone
If an email says a vendor’s banking details have changed, don’t reply to the email chain. Call a number you already trust (from your contacts, contract, or vendor portal) and confirm verbally. This one habit prevents some of the most expensive business email compromise scams. - Slow down requests for sensitive information
Urgency should be a signal to pause, not to rush. If someone asks for W-2s, tax documents, payroll reports, or financial files “right now,” take 60 seconds to verify the sender and the request. Real senders won’t mind a short delay. Scammers will. - Confirm “urgent” requests through a second channel
If an email claims urgency, verify it in another channel before acting: a quick call, text, Teams/Slack message, or an internal ticket. Real urgency can survive a two-minute check. Fake urgency can’ - Give your team a five-minute heads-up (today)
Tell your team tax season is prime phishing season. Make it explicit that it’s okay to slow down, double-check, and ask. That small permission shift prevents a lot of cleanup later.
The takeaway
Tax season is stressful enough without adding “fell for a scam” to the list.
The attacks that show up this month aren’t always especially clever. They’re just well-timed. They rely on people being rushed. They rely on assumptions. They rely on everyone trying to power through March.
You don’t have to overhaul everything to avoid being the easy target. You just have to slow down when it matters and verify when things feel urgent. That’s often enough to break the scam.
And if you want to tighten things up beyond “good habits,” this is where having a managed security partner makes a measurable difference. Univision Computers helps businesses reduce phishing risk with practical controls like email and identity hardening, monitoring, and threat protection—so you’re not depending on perfect human behavior during the busiest month of the year: https://univisioncomputers.com/network-security/
A quick busy-season sanity check
Your business may already have good processes in place, and if it does, that’s great. But if March pushes everyone into reactive mode—or you’re not sure how your team handles urgent requests under pressure—it may be worth a quick sanity check.
No scare tactics. No pressure. Just a clear look at whether a few small improvements (and the right security coverage) could prevent big headaches this time of year.
If you want to talk it through with an IT professional, book a free 10-minute discovery call. If this doesn’t sound like your business, feel free to forward it to someone it does.
For businesses that want an IT partner to help standardize processes and reduce risk all year (not just during tax season), you can also explore Univision Computers’ strategic planning options here: https://univisioncomputers.com/managed-it-services/vcto-it-strategy-roadmaps/
