Scam season is here
Watch out for these tricky scams
Accountants aren’t the only ones at the top of their game at tax time. As we prepare to file their tax returns for the past financial year, scammers are planning to make more bucks. And they’re dusting off and tweaking a sophisticated set of scams designed to relieve you of more than your tax refund. It’s peak time for scammers, who bank on hitting business and individuals with official-looking emails from institutions many of us only deal with once a year.
ACCOUNTANTS aren’t the only ones at the top of their game at tax time.
As Australians prepare to file their tax returns for the past financial year, scammers are salivating at the prospect of making more bucks.
And they’re dusting off and tweaking a sophisticated set of scams designed to relieve you of more than your tax refund.
Around tax time, service providers will send out notifications that statements helpful to include on your tax return are available.
It’s a peak time for scammers, who bank on hitting businesses and individuals with official-looking emails and texts from financial institutions and government agencies, including the Australian Taxation Office, many of us might deal with only once a year.
And they’ve become more sophisticated and convincing in their methods by the day. The best way to beat them? Absolute scepticism. “Believe nothing, open nothing,” says Ashley Wearne, from cyber security company Sophos. “Whatever the format you receive them – SMS, email, whatever, never click on anything.
“Never click on a URL. Never click on a link. And if you have already, never provide passwords or confirm details.
“Because contacting you or your business by SMS or email is just not the way legitimate bodies like banks, the ATO, ASIC (the Australian Securities and Investments Commission) or MyGov communicate.”
The ATO has a swag of alerts on its website for scams using anything from voicemail to text to email.
Fact is, if the ATO wants to get in touch to chase a refund, or give you one, it’s not going to do it via an unsolicited SMS or email.
And you can pretty much assume the same is true of ASIC, MyGov, your bank and anyone else wanting to confirm your details.
So if you do receive a random communication that has anything to do with your finances, or your identity, assume it’s a scam.
“Not all communications are bad, but the key is to be vigilant. The best place to check if something is safe is to log on independently from your browser and check for official communications or notices from the source’s website,” Mr Wearne said.
Scammers prey on human fallibility. Over-ride that by believing nothing.
If you receive an officiallooking email or SMS, rather than click on the links provided, do your own independent search.
Go to the website independently, or phone. Usually, you’ll find you’ve dodged a scam. Businesses needed to be extra wary, Mr Wearne said.
“Scammers target not just employees, but owners specifically, hoping the owner will think ‘tax issue’, and click,” he said.
Scammers often target businesses by using malicious software, “ransomware”, that threatens to publish data or restrict access until a ransom is paid.
“Ransomware is where the money is. More than 50 per cent of all companies in Australia have been hit by ransomware,” Mr Wearne said.
“They’ll take control and you don’t get it back until you pay the ransom. And they don’t just get hit once. They’ll come again the day after and day after that.”
Last year, according to Sophos, 45 per cent of Australian businesses were hit with ransomware, with an average two attacks per organisation.