SCAMMERS have been impersonating the Australian Tax Office to steal money.
Police say they have seen a rise in scam reports lately. A statement from Victoria Police read “victims have reported receiving a phone call from someone claiming to be with the Australian Tax Office (ATO) or local police, who claim that the victim’s tax file number has been hacked or their account has been involved in fraudulent or criminal activity.”
“Offenders ask the victim what their local police station is and to google the number while the offender stays on the phone call. On multiple occasions, the victim has proceeded to do this before providing the scammer with their local police station number. The offender tells the victim that a police officer from that station will call them within five minutes to provide further information. A short while later, someone calls from a number that the scammer has falsified to appear as if someone is calling from the victim’s local police station.
“During this call, the scammer informs them they must move all their funds into a secure ATO account while it is investigated. The victim is then contacted again with instructions to withdraw thousands of dollars and lodge them via an ATM into an account. Scammers will most often provide their bank details to victims via encrypted messaging services. The offenders will repeat this process until the victim becomes suspicious or runs out of available funds.”
Police say that one victim handed $5,000 to a scammer in person in a shopping centre carpark in Cheltenham.
Suspected scams can be reported at scamwatch.gov.au
First published in the Chelsea Mordialloc Mentone News – 3 March 2021
