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.
