It’s March.
Your accountant is buried. Your bookkeeper is moving fast. Deadlines are looming. Emails are flying faster than anyone can comfortably keep up.
Everyone’s head is down, just trying to get through the month.
That isn’t news to you.
And it isn’t news to attackers either.
Tax season is a well-known spike period for phishing and impersonation attempts. Not because the scams are always sophisticated, but because the timing is perfect: people are busy, requests for documents and payments are normal, and “urgent” messages don’t feel out of place.
That’s not coincidence.
That’s opportunistic timing.
Here’s what tends to show up this month, and four simple ways to make your business less attractive to scammers.
The Stressed Supply Chain
Here’s what most people miss:
Attackers aren’t only targeting accounting firms.
They target the busy ecosystem around them.
During tax season:
- Clients rush to send sensitive documents
- Staff shortcut normal checks to keep up
- “Just send me the file” replaces usual caution
- Verification gets skipped because everyone’s slammed
- The whole system moves faster
And speed is where mistakes happen.
Attackers don’t need you to be reckless.
They just need you to be busy.
March is busy.
What These Attacks Actually Look Like
This isn’t a movie plot.
It’s an email that looks like everything else 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 banking details changed
- A DocuSign request for a tax document that “needs your signature today”
- An “urgent” request from “the owner/CEO” who “can’t talk right now”
None of these feel dramatic.
They feel like normal business in March.
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 every detail. They scan, assume, and react.
Scammers design messages for that exact moment.
They don’t need a big mistake.
They just need a small one.
Four Simple Ways to Not Be the Easy Target
You don’t need a security team to reduce risk during busy months.
You need a few simple habits that kick in when pressure is high.
1) Verify payment changes by phone
If an email says a vendor’s banking details have changed, don’t reply to that email.
Call a number you already trust and confirm it verbally.
This one step can prevent a very expensive problem.
2) Slow down requests for sensitive documents
Urgency should be a signal to pause, not to rush.
If someone asks for W-2s, tax documents, or financial files “right now,” take a moment to verify first.
A legitimate request will survive a short delay. A scam often depends on speed.
3) Confirm “urgent” requests through a second channel
If a request is urgent, confirm it another way:
- a quick call to the number that you know (not the one on the message)
- an internal chat message
- an in-person check
You’re not adding bureaucracy, you’re adding a two-minute safety step.
4) Give your team a five-minute heads-up
This week, remind your team: tax season is prime time for impersonation attempts.
Make it clear that it’s okay to slow down, double-check, and ask questions.
That permission shift alone reduces risk more than most people realize.
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 clever. They’re just well-timed.
They rely on:
- people being rushed
- assumptions
- the pressure to power through March
You don’t need to overhaul everything to avoid being the easy target.
You just need to slow down when it matters and verify when the stakes are high.
That’s often enough to stop the most common plays.
A Quick Busy-Season Sanity Check
Your business may already have good habits in place, and if it does, great.
But if tax season tends to push everyone into reactive mode, or you’re not sure how urgent requests are handled under pressure, it may be worth a quick check-in.
No scare tactics. No pressure. Just a clear look at whether a few small habit changes could prevent a big headache this time of year.
If this doesn’t sound like your business, feel free to forward it to someone it does.