ATO impersonation scam update
Unbelievably, scammers are still successfully bilking Australians out of tens of thousands of dollars, as a recent ATO scam report shows.
According to the July 2019 ATO impersonation scam report:
- 6,179 online scam reports were received in the first month of their new online reporting form going live;
- 6,645 phone scam reports were officially recorded, and 465 phishing scam emails were reported to reportemailfraud@ato.gov.au;
- 520 taxpayers provided scammers with their personal identifying information including date of birth, tax file number, driver’s licence number and notice of assessment details; and
- $197,057 was reported as being paid to scammers, mostly by iTunes and Google Play.
If you are unsure about a call, text message or email purportedly received from the ATO, the best advice is not to reply.