Scammers Impersonating Tax Agents
SCAM WARNING
In the never-ending battle against scammers, there has been a recent twist in the “fake tax debt” scam. We have received increasing reports of a new scam method where scammers impersonate registered tax agents to lend legitimacy to their phone call.
The fraudsters call to say that you have an urgent tax debt and try to illicit information about the registered tax agent. Once they have this information, they initiate a three-way phone conversation between the scammer, the victim and another scammer who impersonates the victim’s tax agent or someone from the tax agent’s business.
A number of people have fallen for this scam. In a recent incident, one person withdrew thousands of dollars from their bank account and deposited the money into a Bitcoin ATM to “pay their debt”.
The ATO will never:
- demand immediate payments
- threaten you with arrest, or
- request payment by unusual means such as iTunes vouchers, store gift cards or Bitcoin cryptocurrency
What is of particular concern is that they are pretending to be a registered tax agent and could potentially be giving advice as that agent.
We cannot stress enough the need to be vigilant at all times. If you are suspicious about a phone call from the ATO or someone claiming to be from our business, we recommend you disconnect from the call. Please then call us immediately to let us know.
You can also verify the call, or report the scam, to the ATO on 1800 008 540 between 8am and 6pm Monday to Friday.