For the past several years, thousands of businesses have been hit with phishing scams during tax season. Through these social engineering scams, hackers obtain employee Forms W-2 for filing fraudulent tax returns seeking...more
With the 2019 tax filing season in full swing, and April 15 only a few days away, the Internal Revenue Service has once again unveiled its annual list of the most prevalent tax scams facing taxpayers and tax professionals,...more
In another round of warnings from the federal government on protecting yourself from tax return fraud and identity theft, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has issued its 2019 “Dirty Dozen” Campaign, designed to warn...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
For several years now, we’ve been alerting employers about the dangers of phishing scams that attempt to obtain private and personal information from employers... Many of these scams rear their ugly head around tax season,...more
With the April 17 tax deadline fast approaching, businesses need to remain vigilant for employee reports (or more likely questions) about fraudulent tax returns being filed in their names. Multiple employee reports of...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
It is tax season once again, and with it comes an increased threat of phishing scams targeting human resources and payroll personnel. In 2016, the IRS alerted employers to a then-emerging email phishing scheme in which...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
The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), along with state tax agencies and the tax industry, recently issued a warning to employers about increasingly prevalent “phishing” email scams targeting the W-2 tax form information of...more
Tax season is here, which means tax fraud season is here, too. This year, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is warning tax practitioners about a new phishing scam targeted at them and reminding all employers about...more
With a new tax season approaching, companies should be vigilant in guarding against criminals attempting to obtain sensitive information through a variety of scams. Last month, the IRS issued an alert warning consumers of an...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
It’s the start of tax season, and many employers are sending W-2 forms to employees so they can get ready to file their tax returns. As was true over the past few years, this is not only the busy season for tax preparers,...more
Brushing aside apparent flaws in a proposed class definition, a federal court in Kentucky declined to dismiss class allegations against North Carolina-based pharmacy services provider Pharm-Save Inc. (Pharm-Save) stemming...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
While it may be better known as “Cyber Monday”, today also marks the start of the second annual National Tax Security Awareness Week (November 27 to December 1). The Internal Revenue Service, state tax agencies and the tax...more
The Internal Revenue Service has issued a renewed warning for tax professionals and businesses to beware of a recent increase in email scams targeting employee Forms W-2. According to the IRS, the W-2 scam – called business...more
Every tax season seems to bring with it new attempts by criminals to fraudulently obtain tax refunds. One popular “phishing” scheme involves fraudulent emails that appear to be from a company executive seeking personal...more
As previously highlighted, in early February, the IRS issued a warning to all employers regarding the resurgence of a W-2 based cyber scam. Since the IRS warning, this type of scam has taken numerous victims. On February 15,...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