{"id":593284,"date":"2017-03-04T16:31:12","date_gmt":"2017-03-04T22:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ktbb.com\/post\/?p=593284"},"modified":"2017-03-06T10:58:36","modified_gmt":"2017-03-06T16:58:36","slug":"w-2-scam-back-with-a-vengeance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/?p=593284","title":{"rendered":"W-2 Scam Back with a Vengeance"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>TYLER \u00e2\u20ac\u201c The IRS has issued an urgent warning about an old scam which has come back with a new twist — and the Better Business Bureau of Central East Texas says people in its coverage area are being affected. The W-2 phishing scam started out targeting large corporations, but has now evolved beyond the corporate world and is targeting school districts, tribal organizations, and nonprofits. The most recent high-profile victim was the Tyler ISD, as reported this past Friday. <\/p>\n

The scammers will use various spoofing techniques to disguise an email to make it appear that it came from an organization executive. The email is sent to an employee in the HR or payroll department requesting employee W-2 forms, and a list of all employees on staff. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153This is one of the most dangerous email phishing scams we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve seen in a long time. It can result in the large-scale theft of sensitive data that criminals can use to commit various crimes, including filing fraudulent tax returns. We need everyone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s help to turn the tide against this scheme,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d explains IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.<\/p>\n

But that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not all. Scammers have also been following up with another scam – phase two as they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re calling it. The cybercriminal will follow up with an \u00e2\u20ac\u0153executive\u00e2\u20ac\u009d email to the payroll or comptroller asking that money be wired into a certain account. Although this is not considered \u00e2\u20ac\u0153tax related\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the cybercriminal is coupling both scams together resulting in some companies losing not only their employees\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 W-2s, but also thousands of dollars due to wire transfers.<\/p>\n

BBB advises all establishments in the area to take the following steps:<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\tInform All Employees With Access to Distribute This Information: 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 distribution of employee W-2 information and conducting wire transfers.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\tSend the Scam Email to Officials: According to the IRS, organizations receiving a W-2 scam email should forward it to phishing@irs.gov<\/a> and place \u00e2\u20ac\u0153W2 Scam\u00e2\u20ac\u009d in the subject line. Organizations that receive the scams or fall victim to them should file a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3,) operated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.<\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u00a2\tBe Safe Online: Taxpayers and tax preparers should be leery of using a search engine to find technical help with taxes or tax software. Clicking the wrong \u00e2\u20ac\u0153tech support\u00e2\u20ac\u009d link could cost you. 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 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 http:\/\/www.irs.gov\/freefile<\/a>. <\/p>\n

As of March 2016, the IRS identified 42,148 tax returns with $227 million claimed in fraudulent refunds. One way businesses and other organizations can help combat identity theft is by helping educate their employees, clients and customers. <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Cybercrime continues to be a major issue\u00e2\u20ac\u009d, said Mechele Agbayani Mills, President and CEO of BBB Serving Central East Texas. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It is becoming increasingly important for businesses to be vigilant in protecting their systems and their data against intruders, potential theft and other cybercrimes which could affect the company.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n

Correcting the Problem <\/p>\n

If your company has been affected by this or is affected in the future by another breach, the most important thing to do when you discover identity fraud is to take action right away. BBB provides multiple resources to aid with the prevention as well as with the aftermath of a breach. Go to http:\/\/www.bbb.org\/cybersecurity<\/a> for more information. Report all unsolicited email claiming to be from the IRS or an IRS related function to phishing@irs.gov<\/a>. Likewise, contact the FBI\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s cybercrime division (IC3.gov), and report it to BBB Scam Tracker. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TYLER \u00e2\u20ac\u201c The IRS has issued an urgent warning about an old scam which has come back with a new twist — and the Better Business Bureau of Central East Texas says people in its coverage area are being affected. The W-2 phishing scam started out targeting large corporations, but has now evolved beyond the … Continue reading W-2 Scam Back with a Vengeance<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":593285,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-593284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news-archive-archives"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-07-16 08:56:18","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=593284"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":593292,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/593284\/revisions\/593292"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/593285"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=593284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=593284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=593284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}