Latest Round of ATO Email Scams

A timely reminder to stay smart online as another email scam claiming to be from the ATO is once again doing the rounds.

This looks similar to the example below and refers to a late payment. It can be from different senders and has a word document attached.

Greetings

Your last payment to ATO was delayed for 7 days. To eliminate penalty you have to solve this problem within 12 hours.

Please find the payment details enclosed with this email.

Kind regards
Cody Jimenez
ATO

 

What the ATO won’t do

Although the ATO does communicate via email the information communicated is limited and they will not send or request any confidential information via email.

Any email which refers to your tax refund amount, requests bank details, or your TFN is definitely a scam.

Any email that is not from an email with the domain “ato.gov.au” is suspicious. Bad spelling and grammar indicate that the source of the email is dodgy, as does use of American or European terms like “fiscal year” instead of “financial year” or “income year”, or “taxes” instead of “tax”.

Often the emails have the ATO logo and similar font to actual ATO correspondence. Obviously this is easily copied from the ATO website, and is no indicator that the email is legitimate.

 

What you should do

You should treat these emails the same way as you treat any other spam or scam:

  • Don’t click on any of the links, attachments, or even download the pictures in the email
  • Add the sender to your blocked senders list
  • Delete the email

If you feel community-minded, then send this email around to people you know. A lot of people can detect a scam when they see one. But people who are new to the world of email, or new to the Australian tax system may not be aware that this is going on and could get caught.

You can also report suspected scam emails by email or phone to the ATO:

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