A new scam targeting professional tax preparers aims to trick them into making unnecessary payments as well as giving up sensitive information such as passwords, Social Security numbers and credit card numbers belonging to clients, the IRS said Tuesday.

Tax preparers are being sent emails that pretend to be from tax software providers, according to the IRS. The bogus “IRS Security Summit process” email requests recipients to download and install an “important software update” by way of a link included in the emails, the IRS said.

Recipients who click on the link are sent to a website prompting download of a file appearing to be an update of their software package. In reality, after completion, they have loaded a program designed to track the tax professional’s keystrokes — a common tactic used by cyber thieves to steal login information, passwords and other sensitive data, the IRS said.

The IRS said it knows of a handful of cases and urges tax preparers to take the following steps:

>> Be alert for phishing scams. Do not click on links or open attachments contained in emails and always utilize software providers’ main webpage for connecting to them.

>> Run a security “deep scan” to search for viruses and malware.

>> Strengthen passwords for both computer access and software access. Make sure your password is a minimum of eight digits long (more is better) with a mix of numbers, letters and special characters.

>> Educate staff members about the dangers of phishing scams in the form of emails, texts and calls.

>> Review any software that employees use to remotely access your network and/or that your information technology support vendor uses to remotely troubleshoot problems. Remote access software is a potential target for scammers to gain entry and take control of a machine.