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SIUSLAW NEWS ❚ SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2017
W-2 phishing scam targets schools, hospitals, others
together as the Security
Summit, have enacted numer-
ous safeguards in 2016 and
2017 to identify fraudulent
returns filed through scams like
this.
As the Summit partners
make progress, cybercriminals
need more data to mimic real
tax returns.
Here’s how the scam works:
Cybercriminals use various
spoofing techniques to disguise
an email to make it appear as if
it is from an organization exec-
utive.
The email is sent to an
employee in the payroll or
human resources departments,
requesting a list of all employ-
ees and their Forms W-2.
This scam is sometimes
referred to as business email
compromise (BEC) or business
email spoofing (BES).
The Security Summit part-
ners urge all employers to be
vigilant. The W-2 scam, which
first appeared last year, is circu-
lating earlier in the tax season
and to a broader cross-section
of organizations. These organi-
zations include school districts,
tribal casinos, chain restau-
rants, temporary staffing agen-
cies, healthcare and shipping
and freight.
Those
businesses
that
received the scam email last
year also are reportedly receiv-
ing it again this year.
Security Summit partners
warned of this scam’s reappear-
ance last week but have seen an
upswing in reports in recent
days.
In the latest twist, the cyber-
criminal follows up with an
“executive” email to the payroll
or comptroller and asks that a
wire transfer also be made to a
certain account.
Although not tax related, the
wire transfer scam is being cou-
pled with the W-2 scam email,
and some companies have lost
both employees’ W-2s and
thousands of dollars due to wire
transfers.
The IRS, states and tax
industry urge all employers to
share information with their
payroll, finance and human
resources employees about this
W-2 and wire transfer scam.
Employers should consider
creating an internal policy, if
one is lacking, on the distribu-
tion of employee W-2 informa-
tion and conducting wire trans-
fers.
Organizations receiving a W-
2 scam email should forward it
to phishing@irs.gov and place
“W2 Scam” in the subject line.
Organizations that receive
the scams or fall victim to them
should file a complaint with the
Internet Crime Complaint
Center operated by the Federal
Bureau of Investigation.
Employees whose Forms W-
2 have been stolen should
review the recommended
actions by the Federal Trade
Commission at www.identi-
tytheft.gov or the IRS at
www.irs.gov/identitytheft.
Employees should file a
Form 14039, Identity Theft
Affidavit, if the employee’s
own tax return gets rejected
because of a duplicate Social
Security number or if instructed
to do so by the IRS.
The W-2 scam is just one of
several new variations that
have appeared in the past year
that focus on the large-scale
thefts of sensitive tax informa-
tion from tax preparers, busi-
nesses and payroll companies.
Individual taxpayers also can
be targets of phishing scams,
but cybercriminals seem to
have evolved their tactics to
focus on mass data thefts.I
n addition to avoiding email
scams during the tax season,
taxpayers and tax preparers
should be leery of using search
engines to find technical help
with taxes or tax software.
Selecting the wrong “tech
support” link could lead to a
loss of data or an infected com-
puter. Also, software “tech sup-
port” will not call users ran-
domly; this is a scam.
Taxpayers searching for a
paid tax professional for tax
help can use the IRS Choosing
a Tax Professional lookup tool
or if taxpayers need free help
they can review the Free Tax
Return Preparation Programs.
Taxpayers searching for tax
software can use Free File,
which offers 12 brand-name
products
for
free,
at
www.irs.gov/freefile.
Taxpayer or tax preparers
looking for tech support for
their software products should
go directly to the provider’s
web page.
Tax professionals also
should beware of ongoing
scams related to IRS e-
Services.
Thieves are trying to use IRS
efforts to make e-Services more
secure to send emails asking e-
Services users to update their
accounts.
Their objective is to steal e-
Services users’ credentials to
access these important services.
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CYAN MAGENTA YELLOW BLACK
The
Internal
Revenue
Service, state tax agencies and
the tax industry issued an
urgent alert Moday to all
employers, informing them that
the Form W-2 email phishing
scam has evolved beyond the
corporate world and is spread-
ing to other sectors, including
school districts, tribal organiza-
tions and nonprofits.
In a related development, the
W-2 scammers are coupling
their efforts to steal employee
W-2 information with an older
scheme on wire transfers that is
victimizing some organizations
twice.
“This is one of the most dan-
gerous email phishing scams
we’ve seen in a long time,” said
IRS
Commissioner
John
Koskinen. “It can result in the
large-scale theft of sensitive
data that criminals can use to
commit various crimes, includ-
ing filing fraudulent tax
returns.
“We need everyone’s help to
turn the tide against this
scheme.’’
When employers report W-2
thefts immediately to the IRS,
the agency can take steps to
help protect employees from
tax-related identity theft.
The IRS, state tax agencies
and the tax industry, working