On Feb. 9, the representative received another email supposedly from Hood, but questioned its legitimacy and forwarded it to other managers in the organization.

It was determined then that the emails were fraudulent and the W-2 forms had been disclosed Feb. 3 to perpetrators of the scam.

Scammers are actively using email schemes to defraud financial institutions, businesses and consumers out of billions of dollars, according to the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Financial Crime Enforcement Network. Since 2013, about 22,000 U.S. and international victims have reported email fraud involving losses of $3.1 billion.

Ellwood Thompson’s said it immediately notified its lawyers and federal law enforcement about the email scam, according to the letter.

“As a small, locally owned and independently operated business, we are committed to our employees and our customers,” the grocer said in its statement to media. “The moment we became aware of this issue, we immediately notified affected employees and legal counsel, and began working with all parties to respond to this incident.