The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) and Australian Taxation Office (ATO) are warning Australians to watch out for scams during tax time.
The ATO has seen a spike in reports from the public of email and phishing scams from 9,368 up to 11,344 compared with the same period last year.
Overseas scammers are targeting Australians by using Australian phone numbers and claiming they owe money to the tax office and are being investigated for tax fraud.
If the person begins to ask questions, they threaten they will be arrested if they don’t comply.
The ACCC says it sees scams like this every day, and that scammers are getting more sophisticated in making their scams look more realistic.
Using Australian area codes is just one recent method the ACCC’s deputy chair Delia Rickard has come across.
“We understand that scammers purchase local numbers and they have ways of routing numbers through multiple countries,” she said to the ABC.
“So it could be a number that looks like an Australian number, an 02, 03 or 08 number, it could be a US number that starts with a 1, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that’s where the scammer is calling from.
“They are very good at disguising their location these days.”
Scammers are also buying Australian contact details off the online black market, with hackers passing on details.
The ATO says people should be suspicious if they receive a call claiming they owe money and should never give personal information over the phone.
Scam guidelines:
• If you are not sure whether a call or email is a scam, verify who they are by using their official contact details to call them directly.
• If you think you have provided your account details to a scammer, contact your bank or financial institution immediately.
• You can report scams to the ACCC via SCAMwatch https://www.scamwatch.gov.au or by calling 1300 795 995.
Source: ABC