Avoid Tax Scam

27th August 2019 |

This year’s tax season has well and truly started and scammers, pretending to be ATO, are again going around preying on regular people.
Scammers are sending scam emails and text messages, making scam phone calls and leaving threatening recorded messages and now they have started contacting tax payers through the WhatsApp social media app.
Unfortunately many people have fallen into the trap, as it is easy to do, and end up either losing money or having their identity stolen.

If you receive an email, phone call or SMS from the ATO, make sure that they are legitimate before acting on them.
If someone contacts you and requests/discusses any of the items below, then chances are they are a scammer:

• threaten you with immediate arrest, jail or deportation if action is not taken immediately
• you are asked to call back on a number outside normal business hours
• the message contains a hyperlink for you to click which will redirect you to another page
• requesting a fee in order for you to get a refund owed to you
• requesting payment of a debt via iTunes, pre-paid VISA card or similar

When the ATO needs to contact you, they will normally send a message through to your secure myGov account or through your tax agent.
Some scammers even go to the lengths of impersonating your tax agent or an employee of the firm.

Don’t let yourself be a victim during this tax return season!
If you are in doubt as to any communication you receive, please immediately contact CrossCorp for guidance.