The vast majority of Australians were required to lodge their tax returns by October 31st, but complicating factors surrounding this process were highlighted when the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) released a statement warning people of impersonators fishing for personal and financial details.
While Australian citizens were burdened with minor technical issues which created delays on the tax lodging website, they were also exposed to yet another tax scam.
In the released statement, the ATO asked people to not respond to any text messages that “warned” them to update their tax details before the lodging deadline. People have been receiving suspicious text messages from ATO imposters saying, “Last warning update your details”, followed by a hyperlink to myGov, the tax lodging website. The hyperlink, however, did not lead to the real myGov website, but to a dangerous trap that can put people’s financial status at risk.
With the emergence of this new scam, the ATO has firmly stated that they will never send emails or text messages asking taxpayers to access ATO’s online services through hyperlinks. In the event of having to complete tax-related duties, Australians are required to access the authorised website at my.gov.au only.
Recent history shows that this latest scam is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of tax-related swindles. Since March 2017, the Australian Taxation Office has issued multiple scam warnings, ranging from phone scams to fake tax return forms. Within the first ten months of 2019, the ATO has already released 6 scam alerts.