Solon and Bedford Heights businesses were both hit by phishing scams from someone posing as a company head requesting employees W-2 forms.
Two of the Solon company's employees reported Wednesday that someone used their identities to steal their tax refunds, according to the Solon Police Department.
The human resources representative from the Solon business sent out around 150 employees W-2 forms after receiving what looked like an email request for them from the company's CEO on March 31.
Later in the day, the representative discovered it was a phishing scam when trying to confirm that the CEO received the W-2 forms police said. The CEO replied that he did not request them.
"This seems to be a real popular scam this year," Solon Lt. Bruce Felton said. Trying to steal people's information to get their tax refunds is old, but it's a new take to pose as the head of a company and get hundreds of employees' identifying information in one email," he explained.
Employees found out when they filed their returns and the IRS rejected them.
"Someone came up with a pretty slick way to con people out of information," Felton said.
