Fraud and Consumer Alerts

Recent Phishing Attempts

Nov. 17, 2023: Email Impersonation Scheme Targeting Texas Businesses

Texas business owners are reporting they have received an unlawful, unsolicited email (view here (PDF)) purporting to be from Texas Comptroller Glenn Hegar. These illegitimate emails, which offer a fictious business opportunity, did not originate from the Comptroller's office.

In them, the Comptroller’s title is incorrect, and the agency cited as offering the opportunity does not exist. The offering email comes from the domain “zohosign.com,” while the email address provided for queries concerning the fraudulent offer misspells the Comptroller’s name and contains a different commercial address from the domain “outlook.com.” An authentic email from the Comptroller’s office will give the user’s full name with the agency’s domain name that ends with .gov.

If you suspect any correspondence from our agency is fraudulent, please notify us by emailing stop.spoofing@cpa.texas.gov.

Sept. 14, 2023: HUB Message Falsely Representing Procurement Division

Sept. 14, 2023: HUB Message Falsely Representing Procurement Division

HUB members are reporting that they have received a phishing email from numerous individuals falsely representing official correspondence from the Statewide Procurement Division. The fraudulent email did not originate from the Comptroller's office and is not legitimate correspondence. The malicious email is designed to lure recipients into clicking on the provided link to spread malware, steal login credentials or trick people into sharing personal and financial information. Some fraudsters are following up with a telephone call. If you receive such an email (view example), please contact us at these addresses: HUB Members: mailto:StatewideHUBProgram@cpa.texas.gov; CMBL members: e.cmbl@cpa.texas.gov.

Nov. 21, 2022: Document from Agency Contractor

>November 21, 2022: Document from Agency Contractor

Some Texas taxpayers have reported receiving the fraudulent email below. The email falsely represents that this is official correspondence from a “contractor” working for the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.

This email did not originate from our office and is not legitimate correspondence from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts.

This malicious email is designed to lure you into clicking on the provided link to spread malware, steal login credentials or trick you into sharing your personal and financial information.

An example of the malicious email appears below. If you receive such an email, please report it to our office and do not click on any link.

From: Contractor, Texas Comptroller <user@transferbigfiles.com>
Date: Fri, Nov 11, 2022 at 10:41 AM
Subject: You have file document from Texas Comptroller Contractor
To:XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

---

You have file document from- Texas
Comptroller Contractor

Good Day,
Kindly check this attachment and click on the download page sent with OneDrive but you can log in with your email to view the attachment only on a computer. This is a new way to send large files.

Thank you,
Texas Comptroller Contractor

Go to Download Page »
https://www.transferbigfiles.com/fc113ee2-7d53-4d37-8f1d-0c8cd58bf12f/0wltY5ve78kyToHnEOwFnA2

(link expires 12/11/2022 8:00:00 AM)

Texas Comptroller Contractor

Texas Comptroller Contractor
Dropbox

DropBox.html

Jan. 6, 2021: Central Master Bidders List (CMBL) recertification

January 6, 2021: Central Master Bidders List (CMBL) recertification

Companies participating in the Central Master Bidders List (CMBL) reported a phishing email, purporting to come from the Texas Comptroller, that originated from an email domain that is not associated with our agency. This email falsely claimed the recipient needed to recertify to continue participation in the CMBL program and requested personal and financial information. The email also contained an attachment that, if opened, directed the email recipient to provide certain information to the perpetrator’s website. We believe the link is malicious and designed to spread malware or steal the login credentials and specific personal and

Pre-2021 Fraud Attempts

Sept. 30, 2020: HUB License Revoked

Companies participating in the Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) Program have reported a phishing email purporting to come from the Texas Comptroller, from an email domain that is not associated with our agency. This email falsely claimed the recipient's HUB license had been revoked and contained two attachments that, if opened, directed the email recipient to a malicious website. This malicious website steals the recipient's login credentials if they enter their username and password, which they were told they had to provide in order to obtain additional information concerning the revocation. However, there is no information because the email is bogus and any login details would be sent directly to the bad actors. This email did not originate from our office and our agency will never ask you for your login credentials to provide more information.

Jun. 24, 2020: Download FAX

A taxpayer received a phishing email purporting to come from the Texas Comptroller from an email domain that is not associated with our agency. This email claimed to contain a fax and instructed the recipient to click on a link to “View or Download Fax”. This email did not originate from our office and does not contain a fax. We believe the link is malicious and designed to spread malware or steal login credentials, personal and financial information from the recipient.

May 5, 2020: HUB Program certification

A number of Historically Underutilized Business (HUB) owners have reported receiving a phishing email from a sbs.tx.gov email domain that is not affiliated with our agency. The email purports to contain a message related to HUB Program certification, includes a malicious link and asks the recipient to provide their email login information to access a bogus message. One of the links in the email appears to spread malware while the other is designed to steal login credentials, personal and/or financial information. This email did not originate from our office.

Apr. 14, 2020: RFQ

A vendor received a phishing email purporting to come from the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts with the subject “The State of Texas Contract RFQ 2020” inviting them to click on a link to review a purchase order. This email did not originate from our office and we believe it is a fraudulent attempt to steal login credentials, products or personal and financial information from the vendor.

Oct. 22, 2019: Invitation to Bid

Another vendor received a phishing email purporting to be from our Statewide Procurement Division with an attachment that claims to contain an “Invitation to Bid”. By clicking on the attachment, the vendor is sent to a fake Dropbox webpage (view here) where they are told they must enter their email username and password to view the “bidding opportunity”. This email was not sent from our office and is a fraudulent attempt to steal email logon credentials, personal and/or financial information.

Jun. 25, 2019: Update Bidder Info

A vendor received a phishing email from someone claiming to be the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. The email (view here) instructed them to log into a website and provide “updated bidder directory information”. This email was not sent from the Comptroller's office and we do not require vendors to update their information in this way. The website is malicious and designed to steal email username, password, personal and/or financial information.