The personal information of as many as 1,700 Belton ISD employees was compromised Friday after a  business office employee was fooled into sending W-2 information to scammers.

As reported by our news partner KWTX, the cyber criminals used a technique known as spear phishing, in which the victim receives an email that appears to be from a trusted source and requests sensitive information.

In this case, the email reportedly appeared to be from Belton ISD Superintendent Dr. Susan Kincannon, and requested copies of employee W-2s.

Belton ISD has notified police, FBI, and the IRS about the information leak, and the IRS said they will be monitoring the tax returns of affected employees to prevent payment of fraudulent returns.

Employees whose information was compromised opted to receive printed W-2s rather than access them via Skyward - a secure electronic delivery system used by both Belton and Temple ISD.

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