IRD Warns of Fake Tax Refund E-mail Scam

According to the New Zealand's tax agency fraud e-mails that appear to come from the Inland Revenue Department are making the rounds on the Internet. These fake e-mails target the users by offering tax refunds.

According to the spokeswoman, the fraud e-mails had been in circulation in several forms for the last couple of months and IRD had been alerting people regarding these mails since June (2010), as reported by wanganuichronicle on October 12, 2010.

A recent scam e-mail informed receivers that on the basis of the last calculation of user's (receiver) fiscal activity they (IRD) have decided that the user (receiver) is entitled to receive a tax refund of $348.12.

The e-mail further states that if the e-mail receiver did not submit the tax refund form attached to the link in the e-mail within 24 hours, then the user's name would be cited on a waiting list and his refund money would take around 2 weeks to three months to be returned.

Users who follow the link direct themselves to a phishing page that asks them to furnish their personal details, including user-name and IRD number. Besides, they ask for credit card details.

The IRD stated that fraud e-mails in the recent attacks also make use of the IRD logo and just like the past e-mail scam, these e-mails are also sent by taxrefund@ird.govt.nz.

IRD Tax Officials again reminded all their customers that Inland Revenue never asks their customers to send any private or sensitive information via e-mail and it will never ask in future too. Hence, customers should always be very cautious regarding providing their details or IRD number through e-mails.

Officials have warned receivers of the e-mail not to open any suspicious links attached to the e-mail or reply it. They have also suggested the receivers to delete such kind of e-mails immediately from their inbox.

However, in a situation if any user has replied to this fraud e-mail and furnished his personal details, then he should immediately contact IRD on its customer care number. Furthermore, suspicious e-mails attacking Inland Revenue clients should be reported to phishing@ird.govt.nz, the Officials said.

Related article: IRD Alerts Of Fake Tax Refund E-Mail

» SPAMfighter News - 10/16/2010