AI-Driven Fraud Risk Heightened for 2026 Filing Season

Vouched CEO Peter Horadan was featured in Checkpoint News, discussing how tax professionals and their clients can protect themselves from AI-driven fraud schemes during the 2026 filing season.

"We're at a point today where the tooling to make AI fakes, either of emails, audio, or audio and video, are starting to become so compelling that it's starting to fool a lot of people. I don't think we've really built up a lot of good defenses with AI yet."

Horadan explained that fraudsters can now use AI to scrape publicly available information from data breaches, like the 17 billion leaked records tracked by haveibeenpwned.com, to create highly convincing phishing attacks. The tax filing season's chaos and urgency make it especially vulnerable to these sophisticated scams.

He recommends several defenses for tax practitioners:

1. Trust your intuition – If client communication "sounds off," verify through a separate channel by calling them directly using a number you look up independently
2. Establish clear communication protocols – Tell clients exactly how you will and won't contact them (e.g., "I will never text you or ask for bank passcodes")
3. Be cautious with AI agents – Avoid sharing passwords with AI tax filing agents, as this creates fraud risk from potential data breaches or legal proceedings

Looking ahead, Horadan highlighted that mobile driver's licenses offer a more robust technological solution. With approximately 10 states already issuing them and 19 total having announced plans, he predicts we'll reach a tipping point within 12-24 months where more U.S. adults have mobile driver's licenses than not. Once widespread, password resets and identity verification will require showing your mobile ID - a powerful fraud prevention tool that, unlike physical IDs, cannot be counterfeited.

Originally published on Thomson Reuters. For full article, visit the source.