A WARNING is being issued to locals to be vigilant and aware of a current tax scam that is targeting the community and accounting firms.
Last week, it was reported that three clients of a local tax accounting firm had received phone calls from scammers claiming to be the ATO and saying they had a debt of up to $8,000 and demanded it be paid immediately via bitcoin.
In one case, the scammers got wind of the local’s tax accountant business name and then phoned them back pretending to be the local tax accountant’s firm and ‘confirmed’ that there was a debt that needed to be paid.
According to the CPA the ATO has reported that during July and August this year that they had received more than 7,000 scam reports to its dedicated phone line, with close to $190,000 being paid to scammers and more than 1,600 people handing over their personal or financial information.
The local accountant said, “If you get a call from someone saying you have done something wrong in your tax and you need to deposit some money immediately, it is a scam call. The caller may even threaten you that if you don’t deposit money immediately, Australian Federal Police will arrest you.
“These scammers may appear to you as if someone from your tax accounting firm’s office is calling you. They may even send you an email appearing to be from the ATO. On a closer look, you should be able to figure out it’s a scam email. Remember, the ATO email ID always ends in ‘.gov.au.’
“Please remember the following… the ATO never calls like this saying unless you deposit money, police will arrest you and if you do receive a call of this nature, call your tax accounting firm’s office and speak with them directly.”
