As the new financial year begins and taxpayers commence preparing 2017 tax returns, scams by entities posing as the ATO or ASIC will become more prevalent. It is important to be able to identify whether a call, email or any form of contact from the ATO or ASIC is genuine and to be able to safeguard yourself against possible scams.
A scam can come in the form of:
- A Phone call;
- Email (If you receive an email never click on any link until it is verified to be a genuine email);
- SMS;
- Door-to-door knocking; and
- A job advertisement that asks you to divulge your tax file number up front.
The ATO has advised the following signs are often present when a scam is taking place. The ATO will never:
- Threaten you with immediate arrest;
- Ask you to pay money to receive a refund or payment from them;
- Ask you to pay a debt via iTunes vouchers, or pre-paid credit card or store gift cards;
- Ask you to provide personal information, such as your tax file number (TFN) or credit card number, via email or SMS;
- Ask you to pay money into a personal bank account; or
- Direct you to download files from the internet, or open attachments in unsolicited emails.
For specific examples of ATO-related scams, please click here to view this information on the ATO’s website.
For specific examples of ASIC-related scams, please click here to view this information on ASIC’s website:
Things you can do to safeguard yourself against scams include:
- Be aware that scams can occur and be on the look-out for common signs;
- Never divulge personal or financial information;
- Never click on any link or attachment in an email unless it is from a trusted source; and
- Ensure you have virus protection software and it is up to date.
If you believe that you are potentially being scammed, please call Catalyst Financial and we can assist you in verifying whether it is genuine or not.
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