If you’re a state worker and you receive an email from a .comcast address with the subject line “IMPORTANT TAX RETURN DOCUMENT AVAILABLE”, you’d ignore it, right?

Unfortunately, not all would.

Roughly 500 Wisconsin state employees fell for a phishing scam last Thursday in which tax records of as many as 50 employees were compromised.

The scam was rather basic. The bogus email directed its victims to a bogus landing page that replicated the Department of Human Resources website and encouraged them to click on a link that would enable them to access W-2 information.

Those that fell for the scam were then taken to a W-2 form with their name, address, Social Security number, and bank account number – which was all visible to whoever operated the scam.

“Looked more professional…”

Richard Boes, commissioner of the Department of Information and Innovation, said his agency tries to educate people not to click on phishing attacks, but “this one was a little better than the other ones — it looked more professional.”

Personally, I don’t find the below very professional:

From: ESSW2@vermont [mailto:2015w2-3@comcast.net] Sent: Thursday, January 21, 2016 10:58 AM Subject: IMPORTANT TAX RETURN DOCUMENT AVAILABLE

Dear Account Owner, Our records indicate that you are enrolled in the Vermont State paperless W2 Program. As a result, you do not receive a paper W2 but instead receive e-mail notification that your online W2 (i.e. “paperless W2”) is prepared and ready for viewing. Your 2015 W2 corrected statement is ready for viewing, follow the link below Click Here to Login To opt out of the Paperless W2 Program, please login to Employee Self Service at the link above and go to the W2 Delivery Choice webpage and follow the instructions. Vermont State’s Human Resource Management Systems

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