Tax season is typically the most vulnerable time for organizations when it comes to the potential of being scammed. Cyber criminals continue to use ever changing technology to push the limits regarding identity theft, data breaches, compromising business emails and engaging in business email spoofing scams.
The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) is warning about phishing emails involving payroll direct deposits, wire transfers, Form W-2 scams, among other fraudulent activity. Additionally, the Social Security Administration (“SSA”) warns about recent scams involving social security numbers. This criminal activity can present itself in many forms, including impersonations of a company representative, employee or executive “sent by” email correspondence or by phone. These communications are typically requesting personal or financial information.
If you receive a suspicious email communication, it is important to take swift action, which may include one (1) or more of the following steps:
Read the communication carefully and be on the lookout for grammatical and spelling errors. Most fraudulent communication will contain these errors.
Should an employer be threatened by a potential Social Security scam, the employer should report the activity to SSA by calling 1-800-269-0271 or by submitting an online report at https://oig.ssa.gov/report.
The top source of security incidents is the employee workforce. Therefore, it is critical that all employees know how to recognize data breaches or fraudulent activity, and, feel comfortable bringing those concerns forward.
For more tips on how to address scam situations, please contact HR Partners at 785-233-7860. In addition, we would be pleased to assist you with any other HR matter your business may need guidance with.
Kevin Holland
Vice President
Cook, Flatt & Strobel Engineers
"We started working with HR Partners when we had staffing changes in our Accounting and Human Resources department. HR Partners has been there to assist us in that transition and has become a resource that we plan to continue to utilize.
Everyone in their office is professional, courteous, knowledgeable, and always very prompt. HR Partners has been able to provide advice and guidance on numerous HR topics and provided a mandatory Workplace Etiquette for our employees. They have also updated our personnel manual in order to provide clear and consistent polices for our employees. HR Partners would be an asset for any company looking for assistance with any human resources needs."