According to the report, the W-2 tax form data was up for sale on the dark web shop with the unnamed category. Hackers selling this W-2 tax form containing employer’s name, employer ID and employer address, including taxpayer’s personal information such as address, social security number, 2016 wage information, and the taxes on the dark web marketplace.
The stolen W-2 records required Bitcoins to purchase and their cost depended on the wage made by the taxpayer, ranging between $4 and $20 each, as per the report by Kevin. Thus, the higher the wage, the more money thieves could possibly land if they are successful in tricking the Internal Revenue Service with a fraudulent tax form filed using the purchased taxpayer information.
A cyber criminal shop on the dark web sells the stolen credit card data, PayPal account logins, and other personal data as shown in the screenshot below.
The unknown shop sells W-2 tax form around 3,600 Americans personal data from Florida on the dark web with no name mentioned under some category. Each record costs the bitcoin equivalent between $4 and $ 20, as reported by Kreb.
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.
“Sunrun recognized the issue within one hour of the scam and immediately began working with the proper authorities,” the company said Friday.
“We are committed to the safety and security of our employees’ information and will continue to work diligently to increase the security of our systems and implement tighter controls.”
For more details, read this article Digitaltrends, Krebsonsecurity