This is the tax season again and real estate investors could be exposed to crooks posing as representatives of the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
ATO Assistant Commissioner Karen Foat said the scammers were becoming "savvy" and trying to take advantage of those who filed their taxes during this time of year.
In fact, about $ 2 million was lost between crooks claiming to be representatives of the ATO between November 2018 and January of this year. This is up to now the largest amount of money ever amassed by unsuspecting fraudulent victims.
Foat said that scams now use a variety of channels, such as e-mail, SMS, and messaging apps, to deceive people.
"They are better at imitating big organizations and getting stronger at times when people expect to hear from us, so that their threats look more legitimate," she said.
Read also: A Property Pinball Imprisoned for Tax Evasion
Some taxpayers could also be victims of another tactic of using the cardless payment features offered by banks.
"With this feature, victims receive a code allowing them to withdraw money from an ATM, which they then read to the scammer," Foat said. .
The ATO also observed an increase in the number of fraudsters asking people to update their personal data by sending suspicious links.
"These scams usually contain links to fake online services for personal information that allows fraudsters to steal your identity," said Foat.
To ensure safety, Foat said Australians needed to know how to observe the behavior of alleged fraudsters. She added that, upon receiving calls from a supposed tax representative, the ATO's number should not appear on the caller's identifier.
"So, people can be sure that there is a number on their caller ID, this is not the call of the ATO," she said.
Foat also encouraged the authorities to take immediate steps to report suspicious messages from people posing as ATOs, particularly if they:
adopt aggressive or rude behavior, or threaten you with immediate arrest, imprisonment or deportation
request payment of debt via card-free money, iTunes or Google Play cards, prepaid Visa cards, cryptocurrency or direct credit to a personal bank account
send an email or SMS asking you to click on a hyperlink to connect to government services
Suspicious messages should be reported to the tax office via its dedicated 1800 008 540 scam line or via the dedicated ATO web portal.
The photo below is an example of fraudulent text:
Top suburbs:
Millner
,
Mortdale
,
Hebersham
,
Werribee
,
Westbrook
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