Social Security numbers and other personal information of more than 3,000 current and former Tidewater Community College employees were leaked this month in a phishing scam , officials said Friday . The data breach happened March 2 when an employee in the finance department responded to a data request from a fake TCC email account . That staff member sent a file that included names , earnings , and withholding and deduction information for all 2015 employees , TCC spokesman James Toscano said . At least 16 TCC employees have reported false tax returns filed under their Social Security numbers in the leak , he said . Officials learned about the leak Thursday during an internal review . " It 's a generally anxious time for people , " Toscano said . " It 's tax season , so obviously people are going to be upset , and they have a right to be upset . Our overriding concern has been alerting our employees . " The leak is the latest in a string of similar incidents in recent years . Phishing schemes are especially common during tax season , when scammers target financial data to file fraudulent returns , experts say . ;