Sophisticated ‘phishing’ scam promises tax refunds

The Assistant Treasurer has warned Australians of a new email phishing* scam using the lure of a tax refund to try to steal private information.

Note(*):  Phishing: To request confidential information over the Internet under false pretences to fraudulently obtain credit card numbers, passwords, or other personal data.

“This particular scam is quite sophisticated and uses convincing fakes of what could be easily mistaken for Australian Tax Office web pages,” he said.

“The email claims to be from the ATO and shows a fake Tax Office email address as the sender.”

The email uses the Tax Office logo and includes the words ‘Tax refund’ in the subject heading.

The email asks people to enter their email, name and date of birth to search for any refund owing, which then directs them to a bogus Tax Office website and asks for personal and credit card details.

“Anyone who has already entered their credit card information into the bogus site should immediately report it to their credit card provider.”.