Warning on new tax office phishing scam

Commissioner for Fair Trading - Rod Stowe

 

NSW Fair Trading Commissioner Rod Stowe  issued a warning on August 6, 2013 about a new phishing email claiming to be from the Australian Tax Office (ATO) and encouraging recipients to click on a link to obtain a refund to a credit card account.

Mr Stowe said the scam email had been sent to a popular Sydney radio personality who had forwarded the email to Fair Trading for verification.

The email claimed to be a notice that a recent attempt to refund a payment to credit card details on file with the ATO had failed.

It included a link to an alleged tax refund portal and encouraged the recipient to click on the link to receive their refund manually. It also said the recipient would be given the opportunity to update their credit card details.

The Commissioner said the ATO had confirmed the email was a scam and he encouraged people to visit the ATO website for more information about a range of tax office related scams.

Go to: http://www.ato.gov.au/General/Online-services/In-detail/Online/Onlinesecurity/?page=6#Phishing_scams

“Scams are many and varied but one thing is a given ”“ never click on links in unsolicited emails because they will open a fake webpage that will attempt to gain your details, in this case it could be your tax file number or your credit card details,” Mr Stowe said.

“The ATO will never email you asking for your personal details. “Delete the email immediately.

“When accessing the ATO’s online services only do so by typing their address directly into your browser.”

Use Fair Trading’s free scambuster app to learn about scams and how to avoid and report them.

For more information about scams go to Fair Trading go to: www.fairtrading.nsw.gov.au or

www.scamwatch.gov.au

 

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