State & Local Government Policy, Business and Technology

Texas city loses 800 city employees W-2s in phishing scam

American City and County: A “spear phishing” scam has left 803 current and former employees of San Marcos, Texas, at risk of having confidential information stolen. The scheme involved a San Marcos payroll department employee responding to a request for all city employees’ W-2 information on Feb. 22, Austin TV station KXAN reports. The request message was made to look like it came from someone in city hall, containing the address “@sanmarcostx.gov,” The information that the city employee unwittingly sent to the scammer contained employees’ names, addresses, social security numbers and earning information. “Spear phishing emails are an attempt by an individual or group to solicit personal information from unsuspecting users by employing social engineering techniques,” San Marcos Acting City Manager Steve Parker said in an email to all city employees, per KXAN.

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