Tax scammers are taking a walk on the wild side to steal your money

THE ATO has noted a fivefold increase in scams this year as fraudsters up the ante with bizarre tactics, costing victims hundreds of thousands of dollars.

It’s cheap and easy for tax scammers to send spam emails to thousands of potential victims.

TAX scammers are increasing their use of threatening phone calls, bizarre requests and new technologies to steal from victims.

The Australian Taxation Office says scam activity surges at tax time, and it already has noticed a fivefold increase in scams so far this year, with “convincing” hoaxes costing victims hundreds of thousands of dollars.

H&R Block director of tax communications Mark Chapman said his firm was receiving reports across Australia from clients contacted by scammers requesting bank account details for bogus refunds or demanding payment for non-existent tax debts.

“They have established that the way to make these scams work is to be as forceful, threatening and aggressive as they can,” he said.

Sophos cybersecurity specialist David Sykes said scammers tried to create urgency. Picture: Supplied

“People don’t think straight when they feel under pressure, and are more likely to do things that they otherwise wouldn’t.”

Mr Chapman said the high pressure tactics used by scammers this year included demanding instant payment by money transfers or iTunes cards.

“In real life the ATO never asks you to pay a debt over the phone,” he said.

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An ATO spokeswoman said some overseas scammers were using internet phone calls to project real ATO numbers onto their caller IDs, and demanding payment immediate payments with prepaid gift cards.

Bedware of tax scammers. Picture: Supplied

She said some victims were being contacted repeatedly and asked to pay fake debts in instalments. One victim handed over $900,000 to tax scammers between July 2016 and February this year. Another lost $100,000 to a similar tactic.

“The scammers were so convincing that when the ATO tried to contact the victim to let her know she had been involved in a scam, she did not believe the ATO officers,” the spokeswoman said.

H&R Block’s Mark Chapman said scam reports were being made across Australia. Picture: Supplied

Sophos cybersecurity specialist David Sykes said he had seen a big rise in phone scams.

“These guys are dishonourable seagulls and they’re completely opportunistic. They will try to create some sort of urgency,” he said.

Email scams are also surging. “Scamming costs almost next to nothing. They can set up a spam server for $4000, running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They will run hundreds of these things — that’s why over 70 per cent of email is spam,” Mr Sykes said.

Mr Sykes said scammers only required a one in 100,000 success rate to make their email attacks profitable, but research had found they were doing better than that — about one in 5000 hits in Australia.

H & R Block’s Mr Chapman said people should never give out personal details to unsolicited contacts via email or phone.

“Instead, call the ATO switchboard on 1800 008 540 and ask them directly if they are trying to contact you,” he said.

@keanemoney

Originally published as Tax scammers are taking a walk on the wild side to steal your money