Tax identity theft continues to be a significant problem for taxpayers. Tax identity theft occurs when criminals use the personal information of individuals and file fraudulent tax returns before the taxpayer does, requesting...more
Last week was National Consumer Protection Week. In celebration of that, this post is devoted to protection from tax identity theft. ...more
As tax season winds on, the W-2 form scam has emerged as one of the most dangerous and common phishing email schemes during this time of year....more
There are three certainties in life: death, taxes, and the knowledge that Ben Franklin’s famous adage will be co-opted. A twenty-first century version of it may be that “in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except...more
In a recent Public Service Announcement dated February 21, 2018 entitled “Increase in W-2 Phishing Campaigns,” the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI) issued another alert about an increase in phishing campaigns since the...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Employers have been scammed into sending sensitive W-2 information to malicious third parties. This article outlines the key steps California employers must immediately take if subject to this unfortunate...more
According to the IRS, the IRS saw the number of businesses, public schools, universities, tribal governments and nonprofits victimized by W-2 scams increase to 200 in 2017 from 50 in 2016. Those 200 victims translated into...more
As employers prepare to send employees their W-2s for last year by the end of the month, cybercriminals are preparing phishing emails under the guise of company executives requesting personal information on employees. The IRS...more
Last February, the IRS issued a warning to all employers regarding the resurgence of a W-2 based cyber scam. The scam, which targets businesses during tax season, was also “spreading to other sectors, including school...more
HR and payroll professionals nationwide have been, and will continue to be, targeted with e-mails apparently sent by a senior executive but actually sent by scammers who ask for a prompt reply with the 2016 W-2s for all of...more
W-2 phishing schemes continue to be a problem for companies in every industry. Last week, American Senior Communities based in Indiana announced that one of its employees was scammed through a phishing email and thereafter...more
Emails, lots and lots of emails, filling our inboxes. Even with the best security and filters, it seems that hackers are simply building better mousetraps. The bigger problem, however, is the trusting nature of individuals...more
We continue to see all industries hit with W2 phishing scams, including the health care industry. Citizens Memorial Hospital, located in Bolivar, Missouri, was hit with the scam when one of its employees believed that an...more
Tax-related identity theft is nothing new, but tax season 2016 took tax schemes to a new level. Last year, our cyber experts advised a large cluster of clients (public and private companies) over a period of only two...more
The IRS recently provided an update on a growing scam targeting employers. The scam generally operates as follows: criminals devise methods to create emails that appear as though the message has been sent from an...more
Tax returns and W-2s are information rich documents that contain the name and Social Security Number of an employee, as well as information concerning their salary and address, and personal behavior and characteristics (e.g.,...more
We always see a surge in W2 email phishing schemes this time of year, as it is tax time, and many individuals are filing their tax returns in order to get a quick refund. So are criminals and cyber-hackers. ...more
With tax season in full swing, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), state tax agencies, and tax industry groups recently renewed a warning about Form W-2 email spear-phishing scams. ...more
We have been repeatedly warning our clients and readers about the massive and successful W-2 phishing schemes where hackers impersonate the CEO or CFO and send emails to payroll and/or HR folks in companies requesting W-2...more
Tax season brings many headaches, but none as miserable as sophisticated scammer efforts to steal employee W-2 information. Using social engineering and modest technological tools, a “spear phishing” attack seeks to trick...more
The Internal Revenue Service issued an alert about an emerging phishing email scheme that purports to be from company executives and requests personal information on employees. The IRS has learned this scheme – part of...more
In the midst of this tax season, a number of companies have fallen victim to the latest spear phishing e-mail scheme, resulting in the unauthorized disclosure of their employees’ W-2 information and learning the hard lesson...more
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) recently issued an alert regarding a phishing email scheme in which cybercriminals pose as governmental officials or company executives and request employee payroll and tax data, including...more