Posted by: TAZ Networks on March 9, 2016 at 11:57 am
Ah, tax day. It’s coming up quick. But if you’re not careful something that everyone gets could put your CEO and the CFO/bookkeeper/accounts person in hot water! A new twist on an old scam is making its rounds around the Internet world. The W2 scam is upon us.
The sad thing… it only takes one employee screw up for this to work. So you better be careful reading “Urgent” email. Make sure to SLOW down, read your email carefully, and never hastily respond to email with confidential data in bulk.
How Does It Work?
This email scam looks eerily similar to other scams looking for money that we have seen in the past. All the criminal needs is the business owner’s name and the email address for the CFO, bookkeeper, or accounting person. Sometimes they will target any staff member at all if they can find out their email. YES, they will target you, and NO, you aren’t too small for anyone to care.
Take a look carefully at the email below… spot anything fishy?
Would you respond to this email? You might if you’re in a rush.
So this email appears to be coming from us but look carefully. Our real email domain is taznetworks.com not taz.co. The scam that targets your company could look very similar to this.
How To Prevent?
As we’ve mentioned before, with communication between CFO’s and CEO’s including bookkeepers or anyone holding confidential information there are some simple things to do to keep this scam at bay.
- Read “Urgent” emails very carefully.
- Have a verification policy in place for releasing financial or confidential information. That can be by text, a quick phone call, or in-person chat. The few seconds it will take to verify the request is worth it, especially when money is involved.
- Never send out confidential data in bulk.
- Educate staff on the importance of being thorough.
- Invest in email monitoring such as Microsoft Defender for Office 365.
- Call or talk to a TAZ Networks technician with any questions.
Remember that “not being a computer person” is not an excuse anymore. If you work on a computer you ARE a computer person. And just like with any tool you use every day, make sure to know it inside and out. Otherwise your company may be open to this scam and many others.
Please contact TAZ Networks today if you would like to educate your staff on the importance of protecting yourself against phishing scams and other IT threats such as these.