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.
Tambra Offield
Officer Manager
East Texas Electric Cooperative
“I first met Kristina Dietrick and learned of HR Partners at last year’s NRECA Interact conference. Her presentation on developing an employee handbook was very informative. Kristina sent me all the materials and introduced me to the staff who worked closely with myself and our General Manager to develop our new employee handbook specifically to fit our needs.
We were so impressed that when our Board President asked about doing an evaluation of our General Manager’s performance, that we immediately thought of HR Partners.”
We can’t thank HR Partners enough for all their help with our GM’s review process. Their knowledge and experience made the process so easy.
I have recommended CBS to all 10 of our distribution cooperative members for all their human resources needs.