Tuesday, November 26, 2024
HomeHacksNow you can Buy and sell W-2 TAX FORMS FOR 2016 on...

Now you can Buy and sell W-2 TAX FORMS FOR 2016 on the Dark Web

Published on

The 2016 tax season is now in full swing in the United States, which means scammers are once again assembling vast dossiers of personal data and preparing to file fraudulent tax refund requests for millions of Americans.

But for those lazy identity thieves who can’t be bothered to phish or steal the needed data, there is now another option: Buying stolen W-2 tax forms from other crooks who have phished the documents wholesale from corporations.

Each W-2 record costs the Bitcoin equivalent of between $4 and $20. W-2 records for employees with higher-than-average wages in the 2016 tax year cost more, ostensibly because thieves stand to reap a higher tax refund from those W-2’s if they successfully trick the Internal Revenue Service and/or the states into approving a fraudulent refund in the victim’s name.

- Advertisement - SIEM as a Service

Tax data can be phished directly from consumers via phony emails spoofing the IRS or employers. But more often, the information is stolen in bulk from employers.

In a typical scenario, the thieves target people who work in HR and payroll departments at corporations, and spoof an email from a higher-up in the company asking for all employee W-2 data to be included in a single file and emailed immediately.

Tax refund fraud affects hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of U.S. citizens annually. Victims usually first learn of the crime after having their returns rejected because scammers beat them to it.

Even those who are not required to file a return can be victims of refund fraud, as can those who are not actually due a refund from the IRS.

Incredibly, this scam tricks countless organizations into giving away all employee W-2 data directly to identity thieves who use it (or, in this case, sell it) for tax refund fraud.

Earlier this month, solar panel maker Sunrun disclosed that a spear phishing attack exposed W-2 tax form data on more than 3,400 employees.

Read More at Kerbs On Security

Also Read:

  1. Digital Weapons of NSA-linked Microsoft hacking tools leak by Shadow Brokers
  2. You, Too, Can Rent the Mirai Botnet
 
Gurubaran
Gurubaran
Gurubaran is a co-founder of Cyber Security News and GBHackers On Security. He has 10+ years of experience as a Security Consultant, Editor, and Analyst in cybersecurity, technology, and communications.

Latest articles

Blue Yonder Ransomware Attack Impacts Starbucks & Multiple Supermarkets

A ransomware attack on Blue Yonder, a leading supply chain management software provider, has...

Dell Wyse Management Suite Vulnerabilities Let Attackers Exploit Affected Systems Remotely

Dell Technologies has released a security update for its Wyse Management Suite (WMS) to...

CISA Details Red Team Assessment Including TTPs & Network Defense

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) recently detailed findings from a Red Team...

IBM Workload Scheduler Vulnerability Stores User Credentials in Plain Text

IBM has issued a security bulletin warning customers about a vulnerability in its Workload...

Free Webinar

Protect Websites & APIs from Malware Attack

Malware targeting customer-facing websites and API applications poses significant risks, including compliance violations, defacements, and even blacklisting.

Join us for an insightful webinar featuring Vivek Gopalan, VP of Products at Indusface, as he shares effective strategies for safeguarding websites and APIs against malware.

Discussion points

Scan DOM, internal links, and JavaScript libraries for hidden malware.
Detect website defacements in real time.
Protect your brand by monitoring for potential blacklisting.
Prevent malware from infiltrating your server and cloud infrastructure.

More like this

Telegram Bot Selling Phishing Tools to Bypass 2FA & Hack Microsoft 365 Accounts

A newly discovered phishing marketplace, ONNX Store, empowers cybercriminals to launch sophisticated attacks against...

Mobile Device Management Vendor Mobile Guardian Hacked

 Mobile Guardian, a leading Mobile Device Management (MDM) vendor, experienced unauthorized access to its...

Hunt3r Kill3rs Group claims they Infiltrated Schneider Electric Systems in Germany

The notorious cybercriminal group Hunt3r Kill3rs has claimed responsibility for infiltrating Schneider Electric's systems...