JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — The deadline to file your taxes is fast approaching. Although tax day is next week, the IRS has postponed the due date for both Florida and Georgia residents to May 1 due to last year’s hurricanes.

Whether you still have to file or you’re waiting on your tax return, experts with Guardio warn to be careful when opening messages about your taxes. As scammers are taking advantage of the stress people are under during tax season.

“People who are rushing, they’re more likely to be in this panic state just because they’re already rushing. Getting a message when you’re already stressed, it just makes it easier for you to be a target and be under pressure and not even notice,” explained Sharon Blatt Cohen, Guardio Cybersecurity Expert.

During February of this year, Guardio reported a 244% increase in scammers reported to send out fraudulent messages regarding taxes, sending out dangerous links that compromised personal data. Their goal is to take the user’s private information they put on tax forms.

Especially those who still need to file; Blatt Cohen explains it’s important to only use websites to file online that are featured on the IRS website to avoid red flags.

“The URL is your best kind of shot of knowing if something is real or fake because on the IRS side, you’ll see .gov. But even there the scammers will try and mimic something that will have that .gov look with it just so that it will look real,“ Blatt Cohen said. 

And for those who already filed their taxes, make sure to only click legitimate links from the website you filed your taxes with when it comes to any messages about your tax return.