"We have tried to contact you many times, and the situation is very urgent, the Australian Inland Revenue Service (ATO) is investigating your tax fraud, has referred to the prosecute lawsuit."
This is now ATO swindle people to say the first sentence.
This sentence opened the curtain of fraud, but also let a lot of people believe it, scared a cold sweat.
Since July 1, at least 6000 Australians have been lured to hand over personal or financial information. According to ATO, 253 of them have been deceived for a total of A $1 million!
The tax filing period is the prime time of the cheater.
Since the end of the last fiscal year, more than 30,000 people have received mobile text messages, asking people to call back, and then trying to trick others into giving details that could be used for cyber fraud.
A journalist of the Daily Telegraph decided to have an "anti-scouting". She took the initiative to return calls to the cheater and recorded the entire recording with the fraud.
At first, the person on the other end of the phone was surprised with an accent because it took journalist two weeks to call back after receiving the message, which meant trouble was imminent.
Then the cheater called them "already prosecute, you might be arrest," to intimidate us, psychologically frighten, and listen to them.
The next step is to ask for our specific personal information. The cheater will ask the other person's name and address when the phone is connected.
There's a logic to understand: if it's really a call from the government department, it's usually a direct confirmation of the caller's identity, not a trick for you.
Journalist, of course, refused to provide the information, and then highlighted the identity, and the following conversation took place:
Journalist: "before I give my personal information, I want to know some details."
Liar: "what kind of data do you need on my side?"
Journalist: "where do you call from?"
Liar: "We called you from Australia."
Journalist: "where in Australia?"
Liar: "well, I won't tell you this information, because you'll call the police, and then they'll arrest us."
Journalist: "if you're from ATO, why are you being arrest?"
Liar: "No, it's illegal. It's a hoax."
The cheater on the other end of the line eventually admitted that he was calling from abroad, saying he was working with 78 other people because of "money problems" and he did not work specifically for a company.
Turns out, this is an organized, planned fraud gane!
When journalist asked which country he was calling, he sarcastically replied that journalist had to see him because the information was "confidential" and then suddenly hung up.
Kath Anderson, an assistant commissioner at ATO, said fraud calls were increasingly common, and many people didn't even know they were being cheated or "not calling the police because they felt humiliated."
It's also strange that cheats are asking for payment. They ask for a transfer via a Bitcoin ATM, an iTunes gift card, a prepaid credit card or a transfer to a personal account.
Anderson stresses that handing over personal or financial information to a liar is as dangerous as paying a fraud directly. "they sell the information on the black market, or they pretend to be victims, which can cause damage," she said.
Fraud has become more complex, she says, and swindlers use new technologies and applications to pretend to be legal. When Australians receive fraudulent calls from local numbers, swindlers often "call scams" from abroad, disguising their real numbers through the identity of change callers.
Fraud from text messages
To a high copy of the bill
To the Australian Inland Revenue Department, which impersonates no one to be found.
From speeding fines, cell phones, electricity or gas, even insurance and medical expenses, they will ask for everything.
These cheaters did everything they could to deceive our money.
The following precautions have been issued to reduce the risk of being deceived:
1. Never give your personal or bank information to someone behind a strange number;
2. Be careful that you mention personal information on the phone, even if you are calling the person;
3. Never provide your financial password or account password on the phone;
4. If you doubt the identity of the caller, ask some specific questions: their street address, telephone number, Australian financial services agency phone number … If they don't answer, then this could be a scam;
5. Never transfer money to someone or an account you don't know.
Mr. Yee reminded friends in Australia to be vigilant, protect our personal and bank information, and prevent such fraud from happening to us.