How the scam works:
Phishing scams are one of the oldest games in the scam book. Once a scammer has your personal information, he or she can sell it to the highest bidder on the identity theft black market.
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This phishing scam involves an email from the Australian Taxation Office, promising a large tax refund simply by clicking a link in the email and completing a form.
The text of the email is: “We at the Australia Taxation Office would like to infor you that you have qualified for 2013 subsidy benefit. Simply reply to this secure message with the following details below:”
The form asks for your name, address, any other given names, date of birth, post code, province and suburb or town. They also require the submission of personal financial information as well, in order to pass along the refund. Of course, the refund never arrives – but your identity is now for sale.
How to avoid:
The message is convincing because it contains the official letterhead from the Australian Taxation Office. However, be aware this is not difficult for scammers to copy into an email body. Be aware that the ATO will never ask for personal identifying information or financial information via email. Also, if you are eligible for a subsidy, they will notify you by mail, not in an electronic format. If you receive this email, notify the ATO or your local authorities.
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There’s a number of clues this is a scam. The most obvious is the use of the American date form. Australian government organisations use by convention a variant of the Australian date form DD MM YYYY which NEVER includes numerical suffixes or punctuation. This example quotes the date as Mar 25, 2013
An official government notice would use either 25/3/2013 or 25 Mar 2013.
Another clue is the request for your province. There are no provinces in Australia, just six states and several territories.
Hello,
I am so worried l just filled out that scam form but l forgotten my taxfile number so l didnt put that in.
I am on a Disavility Pension and just thought this was all true, is there anyway we can stop this information getting to the black market.? These people need ro be sropped.