It’s tax season once again. That means it’s also the time of year when IRS scams, both old and new begin appearing. According to a recent article on the HR Dive website, the IRS is currently warning HR professionals and corporate payroll departments to be on the lookout for W-2 scams. Would-be cyber thieves use spoofed or ‘phishing’ emails in order to trick HR and payroll departments into releasing W-2 forms to them.
With the employee’s name, address, Social Security numbers and other bits of financial information, these scammers will file fake tax returns with the IRS.
The federal agency says this is a return to a scam that first made its appearance last year. Any company and any employee can be targeted in these schemes, so companies and their payroll and human resource staff are being warned to be on the lookout for suspicious emails and to protect employee’s precious personal data as much as possible by not handing out such information. They are also encouraged to flag all suspicious emails and pass them along to their IT departments.
Last year, tech firm, Seagate, accidentally released thousands of its customers’ W-2 and tax information in a similar phishing scam.
Keeping your precious employee data safe and secure is important and is just one of the things that we do here at NetPEO. We understand the need for you and your workers to feel secure regarding their precious personal information. Along with our professional partners, we are here to help you with all of your personnel needs. We offer a wide range of services that cover important aspects of human resources management such as payroll services, managing employee benefits, liability management for employers, brokerage services, and employee leasing.
Contact us today in order to discuss your company’s current needs and to schedule a free assessment. Let NetPEO help you with all of your employee needs.