Revenue.ie issues warning over bogus phone call scam
THE Revenue Commission has issued a warning about the latest bogus phone call scam being carried out on unsuspecting members of the public.
Officials have been made aware of a number of people who have received phone calls from individuals claiming to be from the revenue service, advising that a tax refund is due, demanding the immediate payment of a tax bill or stating that a criminals case is being taken against them.
In response to the scam Revenue has advised anyone who receives a suspicious call and are unsure about its validity to contact the Revenue office.
“This person is not calling from Revenue. If you receive contact demanding payment of tax about which you have any doubt, you should contact our Collector General’s Division
on 01 738 3663,” said a spokesperson.
They said anyone who mistakenly provides personal information in response to these types of fraudulent phone calls should contact their bank or credit card company immediately and alert the Gardaí.
The Revenue has also warned taxpayers about a ‘phishing’ scam, where bogus emails are sent to people in order to trick them into divulging sensitive, personal or financial information.
People following the link in the email will be taken to a fake web page that will attempt to trick them into entering information such as a PIN, password, PPSN or bank account information.
The can often contain realistic looking logos, official sounding text and can even carry a warning about phishing.
The agency said that the emails, which may seek personal information in connection with a tax refund or credit/debit card details, do not originate from them.
“The Revenue Commissioners never send messages requiring customers to send personal information via email or pop-up windows,” said the spokesperson.
“Anyone who received an email purporting to be from the Revenue and suspects it to be fraudulent or a scam should forward it to webmaster@revenue.ie then delete it.”
Revenue also warned people to be aware of ‘smishing’ scams where unsolicited texts are sent to mobile phones containing a link to a fraudulent website or phone number in order to collect personal information.
“Please remember that Revenue never send unsolicited text messages. If you receive an unsolicited text message purporting to be from Revenue with a link to a website you should ignore it,” said the spokesperson.