ATO warns of aggressive tax scam

THE Australian Taxation Office is warning people to beware of phone scammers threatening jail or arrest if you don’t pay a tax bill.

business woman speaks by phone in the street

BEWARE of phone scammers threatening jail or arrest if you don’t pay a tax bill.

The Australian Taxation Office has warned of an aggressive phone scam where fraudsters intimidate people into paying a phony tax bill.

“We would never cold call you about a debt, we would never threaten jail or arrest, and our staff certainly wouldn’t behave in an aggressive manner,” ATO second commissioner Geoff Leeper said on Monday.

“We make thousands of outbound calls to taxpayers a week, but there are some key differences to a legitimate call from the ATO and a call from a potential scammer.”

Mr Leeper said scammers pretending to be from the ATO were more common at tax time, and people should be vigilant to protect their personal information.

He said if people thought they had fallen victim to a scam, contact the ATO on 13 28 69, visit the ATO website or the consumer watchdog’s SCAMwatch.