An “insidious” new social media scam is focusing on unsuspecting victims by faux accounts impersonating the tax workplace.
Scammers pose as an Australian Taxation Workplace profile to dupe individuals into sending their private particulars, which might then be used to steal their identity and money.
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Quite a few faux accounts posing as official ATO pages or ATO employees have been popping up throughout Fb and Twitter, the federal authorities warned on Monday.
The bogus accounts prey on individuals complaining about their expertise with the ATO or myGov web site or taxpayers asking questions on-line.
The faux profiles hijack the dialog by immediately contacting the poster with a proposal to assist resolve the grievance.
After incomes their belief, the scammer asks the individual to click on on a hyperlink or present their private particulars.
Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones stated the “insidious” rip-off might be “extraordinarily convincing” and warned Australians to by no means give out their particulars on-line.
“The tax workplace won’t ever ask for private data over social media and by no means ship hyperlinks that ask you to fill out your private data like your tax file quantity, myGov log-in or checking account particulars,” he stated.
“The federal government is urging individuals to train excessive warning of their social media interactions.”
Jones stated the ATO is working with social media platforms and different authorities companies to take away the faux accounts.
The rip-off alert comes as quite a few Australians report receiving just lately fake myGov emails offering hundreds of dollars in refunds.
The dodgy emails inform recipients they’ve an “excellent refund” from myGov and seem like from the federal government company, however are actually from a scammer making the most of individuals hoping for a New Yr’s money increase.
