W-2 information of Scottsboro City Schools employees compromised in phishing incident

SCOTTSBORO, Ala. - The information of Scottsboro City Schools employees became compromised after a phishing scam hit the payroll department. The superintendent issued a letter addressed to the “Wildcat Family” regarding the issue on Monday.

The letter states that the identities of all Scottsboro Schools employees and substitutes are impacted.

According to the letter from superintendent Dr. Jose Reyes, Jr., the district became aware of the issue when several district employees said they had encountered difficulty while filing tax returns. Following an investigation the district learned that someone had posed as the superintendent and requested W-2 information from the payroll department. That information was then sent.

The IRS has warned of this scam which has affected hundreds of other organizations and thousands of people.The school district has reported the incident to the IRS, the FBI, the Scottsboro Police Department and the District Attorney. We have reached out to the superintendent for comment. Reyes told us he was unavailable and would comment on Wednesday.

To read the letter sent in Scottsboro City Schools, click here.

The superintendent is urging everyone who received a 2017 W-2 from the school district to take action immediately to protect their identities.

Last year, the IRS says more than 200 employers fell victim to the phishing scam, which translated into hundreds of thousands of employees who had their information compromised. The IRS says the Form W-2 scam has emerged as one of the most dangerous phishing emails in the tax community.

This could have been prevented by stepping employees through new-school security awareness training that combines on-demand training with simulated phishing attacks to keep employees on their toes with security top of mind.

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