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The IRS has issued a new tax-related identity-theft scam warning to small businesses and human resources professionals. The email phishing scam uses a business owner’s, corporate officer’s or human resource professional’s name in what looks like company or even official tax agency emails. The emails request copies of employee Forms W-2 from company payroll, internal accounting or human resources departments.
This is the second time the email scam has been identified as attacking businesses nationwide. The IRS urges business owners, internal accountants and company payroll officials to double check any executive-level requests for lists of Forms W-2 or Social Security Numbers.
The W-2 scam first appeared in early 2016. The IRS reports that cybercriminals tricked payroll and human resource officials into disclosing employee names, SSNs and income information. The thieves then attempted to file fraudulent tax returns to create fraudulent income tax refunds in a tax-related identity theft scheme.
This phishing variation is known as a “spoofing” e-mail. It will contain, for example, the actual company chief executive officer’s name. In this variation, the “CEO” sends an email to a company payroll office or human resource employee requesting a list of employees and information including their SSNs.
Crime investigators say some of the wording used in actual scam emails included:
- “Kindly send me the individual 2016 Forms W-2 (PDF) and earnings summaries of our company staff for a quick review.”
- “Can you send me the updated list of employees with full details (Name, Social Security Number, Date of Birth, Home Address, Salary).”
- “I want you to send me the list of Form W-2 copies of employees’ wage and tax statement for 2016. I need them in PDF file type, and please send it as an attachment. Kindly prepare the lists and email them to me asap.”
Working together in the Security Summit, the IRS, states and tax industry representatives have made progress fighting against tax-related identity theft. However, cybercriminals continue developing more sophisticated tactics to impersonate taxpayers in their effort to steal even more data.
For more information about tax-related identity theft and other tax scams, click here to link to The Security Summit’s national taxpayer awareness campaign called “Taxes. Security. Together.”
