Employers Beware of Payroll-Related Email Scams

In our industry, we witness many email scams targeting small employers, and these types of scams are unfortunately on the rise. It’s important to be vigilant in authenticating any email requests that involve an employee wanting to make payroll changes to their direct deposit banking info.

Follow these simple tips to protect your organization:

1. Always take steps to validate the identity of the person requesting a change. Speak to them face-to-face, text, or call them at a phone number you already have access to (not a phone number in a suspicious email). In addition, ask them to provide their date of birth, last four numbers of their Social Security Number, or other data you have on file.

2. Any email request that involves money or passwords should put you on HIGH ALERT.

3. Any email that says URGENT should warn you to proceed with caution. Many times, these requests are made to seem extremely urgent because they want you to act quickly and skip critical verification steps.

4. Never relay your employee’s direct deposit information to anyone requesting it.

5. Ensure all employees who handle payroll are properly trained. Each payroll portal admin should use their own login. No sharing login credentials.

6. Establish policy or procedures for requesting payroll-related changes at your organization.

7. If you’re suspicious of an email; report it to your IT personnel, don’t click on any links, and don’t reply to it.

8. Make your employees aware of these scams.

9. Ask employees to forward any suspicious emails to you or HR personnel.

Often, email scams look real. They may replicate email signatures and full names to appear legitimate. Please be assured, at OMS we take every measure to protect our payroll customers from criminal activity. Take precautions to protect yourself as outlined above because fraudulent requests could come your way, and don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you need assistance.