Tax scam warning
LOCALS have fallen victim to a recent tax scam.
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has warned the public to be aware of the circulating phone scam.
According to ATO, the fraudsters intimidated people into paying a fake tax debt over the phone the aggressively threatened arrest if they don’t comply.
Accounting offices Perrett and Associates and Fawcett and Pickersgill have taken calls from concerned taxpayers.
“ATO is aware of the scam. The scammers are using a scare tactic but don’t give out your details and don’t get involved,” Don Perrett said.
“The tax office would not be asking for money to be moved to its account.”
Assistant commissioner Thomas Ryan said ATO makes thousands of outbound calls to taxpayers a week, but would never contact taxpayers about a debt in this threatening manner and urges people to protect their personal details.
“We take your privacy seriously. We urge you to be alert to these types of scams and never send money or give your financial details to someone you don’t know and trust,” Mr Ryan said.
“Generally the ATO would send an SMS or letter you remind you a payment was due. If we don’t get a response from this, we would then call you to discuss payment.
“If you do have a tax debt, we encourage you to contact us early on 13 11 42 so we can discuss your circumstances.”
If people receive a call from ATO and are concerned about providing personal information over the phone, they should ask for the caller’s name and phone them back through the ATO’s switchboard on 13 28 69.
If people think they may have fallen victim to a phone scam, contact ATO on 13 28 61 between 8am and 6pm
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