Continuum Accounting
Sydney Tax and Audit Accountants

Scam alerts

Scam alerts

Protect Yourself Online

Protect Yourself from Scams!

Discover how to spot scams, stay cyber-safe, and keep your identity secure.


ATO

Scammers aim to trick you into paying money or revealing personal information, often by pretending to be from trusted organisations like the ATO.

How will the ATO contact you : While the ATO may contact you by phone, email, SMS, or post, if you are ever unsure whether a communication is genuinely from them, do not reply. Instead, you can call them directly on 1800 008 540 to verify or contact us and we can verify what communication the ATO has sent you.

Please note that the ATO or myGov will never send you an email or SMS with myGov with a link to access online services. These should be accessed directly by typing ato.gov.au or my.gov.au into your browser.

Debt Collection (recoveriescorp): The ATO are recommencing the use of recoveriescorp for debt collection. If your account has been referred to them, they may contact you via phone, email, SMS, or post. If you doubt their legitimacy, do not reply. Call recoveriescorp directly on 1300 323 495 to confirm.

  • Emails

    Scammers pretending to be from the ‘Australian Taxation Office' or 'myGov’ are emailing and falsely telling people their taxable income has been recalculated and they are due to receive compensation. To claim the amount, they are asked to reply to the email with personal identifying information such as payslips, TFN, driver's licence and Medicare details.

    Scammers use this information in a variety of ways to:

    • commit refund fraud in your name

    • access your myGov account to steal your tax refund

    • steal your superannuation

    • sell your identity to organised crime groups on the dark web or via other means.

  • Be aware, the sender's email address looks legitimate. The following image is an example of the format this scam can take.

  • Phone call

    Be wary of emails, phone calls and text messages claiming to be from the ATO.

    If you think a phone call, SMS, voicemail, email or interaction on social media claiming to be from the ATO isn't genuine, don't engage with it. You should either:

  • SMS

The ATO may use SMS to ask you to contact us, or to let you know that you have a new message in your myGov inbox, but they will never ask you to return personal information through these channels.

 
 
 

  • myGov

The ATO and Services Australia are warning the community to stay vigilant as we continue to receive a high number of phishing scam reports that impersonate government agencies.

In February, ATO branded emails containing links to fake myGov websites were the most commonly reported scam by the community and approximately 75% of all email scams reported to the ATO over the past 6 months have linked to a fake myGov sign in page.

Scammers use fake myGov websites to steal your sign in credentials and gain access to your myGov account. Once the scammer has access, they can make fraudulent lodgments in your name and also change bank details so that any payments are redirected to a scammers account.

Scammers use different phrases to trick people into opening these links. Some examples are:

  • 'You are due to receive an ATO Direct refund'

  • ‘You have a new message in your myGov inbox – click here to view”

  • 'You need to update your details to allow your Tax return to be processed'

  • 'We need to verify your incoming tax deposit'

  • 'ATO Refund failed due to incorrect BSB/Account number'

  • ‘Your income statement is ready, click on the link to view’

  • The following images are examples of the format this scam can take.

These details can be used later in identity theft or other fraudulent activity such as refund fraud.

To protect yourself we remind you:

  • We won't send you an SMS or email with a link or QR code to log on to online services. You should access them directly by typing ato.gov.au or my.gov.au into your browser.

  • We will never send an unsolicited message asking you to return personal identifying information through SMS or email.

  • Don’t click on links, open attachments or download any files from suspicious emails or SMS; we will never send an unsolicited SMS that contains a hyperlink.

  • Only download the myID app from the official app stores (Google Play and the App Store).

  • Never share your login code with anyone.

The ATO is on Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn, but they will never use these social media platforms to private message, discuss your personal information, documentation, or ask you to make payments.