New Scams Target Payroll Staff on Wire Transfers and Direct Deposit

The Internal Revenue Service and its Security Summit partners are warning tax professionals of an uptick in phishing emails targeting them that involve payroll direct deposit and wire transfer scams. These business email compromise/business email spoofing (BEC/BES) tactics generally target all types of industry and employers. Recently the IRS received a number of reports from tax preparers that they, too, are being targeted. The IRS and the Summit partners, consisting of state revenue departments and tax community partners, are concerned these scams as well as the Form W-2 scam could increase as the 2019 tax season approaches. These emails generally impersonate a company employee, often an executive, and are sent to payroll or human resources personnel. The email from the “employee” asks the payroll or human resource staff to change his or her direct deposit for payroll purposes. The “employee” provides a new bank account and routing number, but it is actually controlled by the thief. This scam is usually discovered pretty quickly, but not before the victim has lost one or two payroll deposits.