In a recent twist in the ‘fake tax debt’ scam, the ATO have received increasing reports of a new scam method where scammers impersonate registered agents to lend legitimacy to their phone call.<\/p>\n
The fraudsters do this by:<\/p>\n
> coercing the victim into revealing their agent’s name
\n> initiating a three-way phone conversation between the scammer, the victim, and another scammer impersonating the victim\u2019s registered agent or someone from the agent’s practice.<\/p>\n
Victims have fallen for this new approach. In one recent example, a victim withdrew thousands of dollars in cash and deposited it into a Bitcoin ATM, fearing police had a warrant out for their arrest. The phone conversation with the scammers appeared legitimate, and the victim trusted the advice of the scammer ‘tax agent’.<\/p>\n
To protect our client’s information and their money from these scammers please be aware that we will never:<\/p>\n
> demand immediate payment over the phone
\n> threaten you with arrest
\n> request payment by unusual means such as iTunes vouchers, store gift cards or Bitcoin cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n
If you are suspicious about a phone call from someone claiming to be us, we recommend you disconnect and call 1800 008 540 to verify the call. <\/p>\n
Alternatively, please hang up on the caller and contact us directly on 08 8239 1143 to confirm the status of your tax affairs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"