Watsonville (Calif.) Community Hospital employees are reporting attempted identity theft following a 2024 data breach, KSBW reported March 20.
One employee told the news outlet that an $8,000 tax refund had been fraudulently filed in her name, though the IRS flagged it as suspicious and didn’t issue it. Watsonville Community Hospital fell victim to a cyberattack Nov. 29.
“We heard from a few of our employees that they reported there were fraudulent tax filings in their name, so someone else had tried to file a tax return in their name and they had received that notification from the IRS,” a hospital spokesperson told KSBW.
The spokesperson said the investigation into the cyber incident is ongoing but the hospital has no indication that any payroll information was breached. Still, Watsonville Community is offering employees free credit monitoring and access to identity fraud counselors through its employee assistance program.
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