Scam impersonating legitimate TPB number, warns regulatory body

“We have been notified of a telephone scam using technology to impersonate a legitimate TPB telephone number,” the TPB said in a LinkedIn post.

“Please be aware that a legitimate TPB call will never ask for, or demand, credit card payment over the phone.”

Last month, the ATO warned taxpayers to be on high alert for scammers, with over $800,000 reportedly lost during November.

Scam phone calls increased in November, especially those using software that resembles a legitimate phone number to disguise the caller’s true identity, the ATO reported at the time.

Assistant commissioner Kath Anderson said, “The ATO does not project our numbers using caller ID. You can be confident that if there is a number displayed in your caller ID, it isn’t the ATO.”

According to Ms Anderson, the ATO received more than 37,000 reports of scam attempts in November alone, with one elderly person losing more than $236,000 to scammers between June and November this year.

The ACCC also cautioned people in December not to engage with phone calls or emails they receive threatening arrest or jail over unpaid tax debts.

“Most of these scams occur over the phone. People get a call from an aggressive scammer directly or receive a robotic-sounding voice message informing them they need to contact a phone number in relation to an outstanding tax debt, or face imminent arrest and jail time,” the ACCC explained.

It advised people to simply hang up the phone or delete the scamming email.

“Do not call the number provided in the phone message or email you receive,” the ACCC added.