By Luke Voogt
Scammers pretending to be Australian Taxation Office (ATO) employees are targeting Geelong, with authorities warning residents to hang up on suspicious calls.
Over the past few months Geelong police have posted multiple warnings about scammers, with several dozen locals reporting attempted scams.
This week the Independent’s reporter received an automated message from a purportedly Melbourne number.
The recording falsely claimed the reporter’s tax file number had been suspended and asked them to dial one.
The reporter dialled one to confront the operator, who answered with an attempted Australian accent.
When notified they had attempted to scam a journalist, the operator hung up.
So far this year, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s watchdog, Scamwatch, has received 2150 reports mentioning ‘tax file number’ or ‘taxation’ with losses of $555,000.
These include 530 from Victoria totalling $188,000 in losses.
In 2020, Scamwatch received about 8830 reports with losses of almost $1 million, including about 2500 from Victoria totalling $336,000 in losses.
Tax scams accounted for the highest percentage of losses in Victoria in 2020, a trend that has continued this year.
The callers will either claim that the victim’s tax file number is suspended and demand they pay a fine, or that scammers have their tax file details and ask them to transfer money “while we sort it out”.
“Sometimes scammers can disguise their identity and ‘spoof’ a phone number to make it look like their call is coming from a legitimate organisation, or a different phone number,” a Scamwatch spokesperson said.
The victim could also receive an automated message making similar claims and requesting them to “dial one”.
If they do so, they are connected with a scammer claiming to be from the ATO, another government agency or an ‘investigator’.
“Don’t be pressured by a threatening caller and take your time to consider who you are actually dealing with,” Scamwatch’s spokesperson said.
“If you are not sure about the legitimacy of a call, hang up and call the organisation directly using independently-sourced contact details.
“Remember that government departments will never threaten you with immediate arrest.”
Visit scamwatch.gov.au for help or to report a scam.
