Yet Another IRS Email Scam To Worry About In The Capital Region
IRS is releasing new information on the W-2 phising email scam. The scam is now branching out to target additional employers. Here's what you need to know.
Here we go again, another scam to be careful about. This one is scary and its one you should share with your bosses and human resources departments.
Employers are being warned that the W-2 email phising scam is now targeting schools, tribal organizations and nonprofits.
According to Forbes, here’s how the scam works:
Fraudsters send a fake email pretending to be from a high-level corporate employee requesting information about employee forms W-2 from a company's payroll or human resources departments. The emails typically ask for the forms W-2 and earnings summary of all W-2 employees or an updated list of employees with their personal details including Social Security Number, home address, and salary. This scam is sometimes referred to as business email compromise (BEC) or business email spoofing (BES). Just like that, the scammers can literally capture all of the data for an entire company.
The IRS is sending the message that his is a very dangerous scam and asking all employers to be alert.
According to Forbes, If you receive one of these scam emails, forward it to phishing@irs.gov with "W2 Scam" in the subject line. Affected employers and companies should also alert the state tax agencies by notifying StateAlert@taxadmin.org.