People are being urged to beware of scams during the peak tax time period and to protect themselves by seeking advice from their accountants.
So far this year, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has registered more than 17,067 reports of scams, with 113 Aussies handing over $1.5 million, and 2500 people giving away personal details such as tax file numbers.
Scams generally increase at tax time – last year, 48,084 scams were reported to the ATO between July and October, with one victim losing $900,000.
LDB senior financial planner Chris Payne said people could protect themselves from fraudsters by forming a close working relationship with their accountant.
“Scammers have always been around, but they’re just becoming more prevalent, they’re becoming far more sophisticated and around this time of year, we’re finding they’re increasing,” he said.
“They’re not just increasing their activity, they’re increasing their level of success and I think this underpins the reason why people need informed advisors.
“Clients who have a good relationship with their accountant are unlikely to be caught out, because the first thing they do when they get off the phone with the scammer is pick up the phone and ring us.”
Mr Payne said several of LDB’s clients had already been targeted, but their attempts were thwarted once LDB confirmed it was a scam.
“It’s not like the old scams of years ago when they were obvious. These ones, to the untrained person, can seem very legitimate,” he said.
Mr Payne said he has one client come into their office distraught because they believed the ATO called and demanded they pay an outstanding amount of money or face prison. This phone call was particularly distressing as the caller mentioned identifying features of the client’s house.
“We called the ATO and found out there was no outstanding debt or lodgements but the client was so scared they almost paid the money,” he said.
“We have had clients who have been approached, but thankfully those clients have been fortunate not to have been caught out by the scammers because they’ve been able to check with their accountant and determine it is a scam.”
The ATO warned of one particular scam involving fraudsters using a genuine ATO number in their caller ID – a form of impersonation dubbed “spoofing”.
“While we do make thousands of calls per week to the community, our outbound calls do not project numbers on caller ID,” the ATO’s assistant commissioner Kath Anderson said.
“If one appears, it’s most likely a scam.”
Ms Anderson said people should be wary of emails, phone calls and messages during tax time that claimed to be from the ATO, even if they seemed legitimate.
The ATO also encouraged people to avoid sharing personal information, and to secure mobiles and computers by changing passwords regularly and updating anti-virus software.
If you think you or someone you know might have been contacted by a scammer, or have fallen victim to a tax-related scam, report it to the ATO by phoning 1800 008 540.
