News and events

News and events

Fraudulent emails about receiving tax refunds

Be cautious when opening emails claiming to be from the Tax Office

New fraudulent emails are circulating which pretend to be from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). These emails are designed to trick you into providing personal information as a precursor to receiving a tax refund.

The information in a fraudulent email may include, but is not limited to:

Dear Australian Taxation Office customer,

After the last annual calculation of your fiscal activity we have determined that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $250.50 AUD.

Please submit the tax refund and allow us 3–5 business days in order to process it.

This is a scam.

These emails may include links to websites that attempt to trick you into supplying personal details.

Providing the information requested is likely to mean that your personal and/or business information may be accessed for fraudulent or illegal purposes.

What we recommend you do

If you receive an email similar to this one, do not reply or click on the links in the email.

If you have provided personal information that includes your credit card or bank account information in response to an email request regarding this matter, the information you supplied has been captured by a criminal. Please notify your bank and the ATO.

Where you can find more information

For more information about phishing attacks, visit the Protecting yourself against phishing attacks fact sheet.

The Australian Taxation office has produced the following articles on this phishing scam and others:

For more information visit the Australian Taxation Office's website.