From time to time the ATO may contact you by phone but you should be wary of unsolicited phone calls claiming to be from the ATO and offering you a tax refund. Increasingly we are seeing these scams using names and addresses that have some correlation to actual ATO officers and buildings. We advise taxpayers to be highly vigilant when receiving phone calls of this nature.
If in doubt about the authenticity of a call that you receive from the ATO we recommend that you contact us on one of our publicly listed numbers to verify the legitimacy of the call.
The following are examples of recent phone scams:
1. You are called on either your private home or mobile number by a person claiming to be from the ATO. They say that you have been chosen for a business grant of $7000 (could be any amount) from the federal Government. You are told you need to phone a specific number straight away to organise the process to collect the grant.
Key indicators of this scam:
- cold calling (unsolicited calls)
- the caller advises that you have been chosen for a business grant
- you are asked to phone to organise the collection of the grant. When phoning, you will likely be asked for personal information, including financial details or requested to pay an amount to have the money released. You may also be asked to provide other personal information that could be utilised to steal your identity
- the caller provides details which may be similar to actual ATO officer details or addresses. However the street name may be spelt incorrectly or the wrong postcode is provided with the address.
2. You are called on either your private home or mobile number by a person claiming to be from the ATO. They say that you are owed a tax refund of around $3000 (could be any amount) and that you need to make a money transfer to an Indian orphanage or other charity of around $150 in order to receive your refund.
Generally they provide a NSW phone number to contact the 'ATO' once you have completed the transfer. The scammers sometimes quote personal information such as address and date of birth during the conversation to show authenticity and also often have several private contact numbers for you.
Key indicators of this scam:
- cold calling (unsolicited calls)
- the caller advises that you have an unclaimed refund
- you are asked to pay a sum of money to a third party in order to receive the refund
- the payment must be made through a money transfer.
3. You receive a call from a person saying that they are from "The Tax Office's Australian Government Grants Department". The person asks to clarify your name and address and says you will receive a cheque for $5200, hand delivered the next day. In order to get this cheque, you need to call a phone number back to confirm eligibility.
Key indicators of this scam:
- cold calling (unsolicited calls)
- the caller advises that you will receive this money as they have "unclaimed taxes" and/or they "pay tax frequently"
- all the call centre operatives refer to themselves as "Harry"
- you call the number provided and are asked to go to Australia Post and complete a "Yellow Form" (presumably an International Money order) and call them back to provide a 10 digit confirmation number from the form
- you must attach $99 and address the form to "Australian Government - Veerendra Kumar, Bareilly, India"
- the phone number provided is (02) 6100 3889.
Sections within Examples of tax related scams
Last Modified: Wednesday, 15 May 2013