As companies start sending out their W-2 employee forms, the Internal Revenue Service is reminding all employers to be careful about a phishing scam that targets people who work on payroll. The "Form W-2 Scam" has grown to be one of the most dangerous email scams out there. The scam works by thieves identifying the person (or persons) who have access to W-2 forms within a business.

Criminals pose as executives and send emails to payroll personnel requesting copies of W-2 forms. Once criminals have access to the forms, they can then use that information for fraudulent tax returns or post it for sale on the Dark web.

Last year alone, more than 200 employers fell victim to the phishing scam, which according to the IRS translated into hundreds of thousands of employees having their personal information compromised.

Because of the rising number of complaints, the IRS has set up a special email notification address specifically for employers to report Form W-2 data thefts. To learn more about the W-2 Scam, here's a link to the IRS website.


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