Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Beware of New Phishing Schemes

Cathy Robinson, CPA
Principal
 
Cybercriminals are continuing to attempt to get personal information from individuals.  Here is the latest scheme the IRS has shared.  The cybercriminals are emailing payroll and human resource employees posing as company executives and who are requesting personal information for   employees.    The email will contain the name of the actual company executive.  A sample email request might be: “Kindly send me the individual 2015 W-2 (PDF) and earnings summary of all W-2s of our company staff for a quick review.”    If you are a payroll or human resource employee, you should confirm with the company executive who received the email request.
 
The IRS is renewing consumer alerts about email schemes after seeing an approximate 400 percent surge in phishing and malware incidents so far this tax season.  In addition, there are emails being sent to individuals from tax software companies seeking information and asking to confirm personal information.
 
Remember, the IRS will not contact you via email or phone.   Also, your tax software company should not need to contact you.

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