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.
Ross T. Hendrickson
President
MRH Insurance Group, Inc.
"I want to thank you and your team again at HR Partners for your amazing work in securing a high-quality Customer Service Representative (CSR) for our Topeka MRH Insurance Group office.
Without a doubt, if it were not for your company’s ability to understand the different paths to communicate our need, we would not have been successful in securing, in our opinion, the very best CSR in Topeka. HR Partners was instrumental in providing the strategy to secure such an individual for our company and my workings with each and every member of your team was professional and impressive.
I shall ever be grateful for your assistance in helping our company grow in Topeka and northeast Kansas by securing the right MRH Team Member for our operation."