Officials are warning small businesses and employees getting started on their returns to be on the lookout for dodgy tax time scams.
Keen to get the bulk of your tax time paperwork out of the way so you can get back to business on the tools? I don’t blame you.
But as thousands of subbies, small businesses and even tradies earning an hourly log back on for another year, some are having their savings swindled by online scammers.
According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), tax time is the single most popular time of the year for scammers to sink their claws into unsuspecting Aussie bank accounts.
Because nearly everyone is already expecting some communication about their tax (usually a text or an email), scammers have started posing as official Australian Tax Office (ATO) messages or myGov accounts, snatching up personal details and selling off bank details to the highest bidder.
Just last year, there were 43 different tax-related scams reported to the consumer protection group across the country, all of which involved hyperlinks in an SMS or email phishing attempts.
These scams encouraged people to click on a link that directs them to an almost impressively fake myGov or ATO sign in page designed to steal their username and password, or personal details.
Scammers are also getting crafty, sometimes embedding fake messages into genuine text chains and making their scams almost identical to the real deal.
Phrases such as ‘You are due to receive an ATO Direct refund’ or ‘You have a new message in your myGov inbox—click here to view’ are usual suspects that have been used to lure in thousands of Aussies over the years.
And once they’re in, scammers will have full control over your government account and your linked services. They can make fraudulent lodgements in your name and even change bank details so that any payments are redirected straight into the scammers’ pockets.
And if you’re first thought was that they’re just targeting your 85-year-old Aunty Margaret who just discovered the internet – think again. The ATO found the Aussies in the firing line are actually aged between 25-34, which is a large bulk of tradies on the tools.
How to steer clear of scammers
If you don’t want to add to the whopping 3 billion dollars snatched up by scammers in Australia every year, here are a few tips.
In the hopes of beating back the scammers, the ATO announced earlier this year it was removing all hyperlinks from their SMS messages – so steer clear of links from any shady myGov messages.
myGov will also never use email or direct messages on social media to ask someone to click on a link to sign in, enter bank details, provide identity documents or provide other personal details.
Aussies should also be on the lookout for ‘robo-calls’ or calls from people pretending to be from the ATO. These often pre-recorded callers are still asking around for urgent payment of a tax debt or say they need to fix personal information to process your tax refund.
The ATO will never use pre-recorded messages and will never threaten immediate action or demand payment through unusual means like gift cards or cryptocurrency.
But if you think the ATO wants you to handle your tax debt with Bitcoin, you might already be a lost cause.
According to ACCC officials, the best way for people to steer clear of scams is to ‘practice the pause’ before responding to any emails, texts or calls – no matter how genuine they might seem.
As a general rule of thumb, never send your personal or financial information to someone you don’t know or trust.
If you find some of these messages landing in your inbox, the best way to stay safe is to simply delete the message and head to the government websites directly by typing my.gov.au or ato.gov.au into your internet browser yourself.
If something feels off, visit ato.gov.au/scams to see examples of popular scams and report the message.
If you are unsure if a call you have received is a scam, contact the ATO on 1800 008 540 or myGov on 132 307.
