With so many scams out there, especially now as we face the end of the financial year and the pinned “How to spot a tax scam” post being nearly a year old, I’m going to pin this thread as a place to share advice regarding scams or any new scams you might have noticed.
This isn’t to say not to post scam related stuff in the main community but to create a place to keep track of scam related stuff which might get washed away over time.
The toll bill one seems quite common at the moment, so look out for that if you’re in a state where it’s relevant.
Also, go straight to your tag providers website by typing it in your browser, don’t follow any links in the message or email.
A useful tip from @dylanTheDeveloper@lemmy.world (originally as a reply to the original post):
Guys if you have saved messages from myGov and someone spoofs the number there messages can end up in the same thread so please delete your my gov messages on your phone if possible.
Most companies will not text important info to you. If you get a text claiming to be from a company, email/ call that company and ask if it was them.
Here’s a handy PDF: https://www.accc.gov.au/about-us/publications/the-little-black-book-of-scams
Two tips I can think of are:
- financial institutions never include links in emails. They ask you to search for their website and login there
- Push back against any time pressure callers make. The police are never on their way during a call with the ATO. Stay calm and say you’ll call them back. That’s the last thing scammers want because you’ll call the real ATO and the problem won’t exist.
I’ve been thinking of something for more scam conscious people as well; you’d never say a lock can’t be broken or some software can’t be hacked, we should take the same approach and think we could be scammed at any time ourselves. It’s not that we’re immune to scams, it’s that we haven’t encountered one good enough to fool us yet
Absolutely! Complacency is one of the worst vulnerablilities you can have
Original How to spot a tax scam by @cccc@aussie.zone:
We’re in the season of tax returns and now is a great time for scammers to strike. Here’s some things to keep an eye out for but it’s not exclusive.
- unless you have engaged an accountant, no one will contact you about your tax except myGov
- if myGov contact you, they won’t tell you to do anything except check your inbox (exception is security codes but you will have initiated the reason for this)
- if myGov contact you, DO NOT CLICK ANY LINKS. They don’t send them.
- if you get a message from mygov and it shows a phone number, it’s a scam. MyGov messages will only say they are from myGov. This isn’t a guarantee that it’s legit, but the lack of it means scam.
Please add more tips below to ensure people don’t get caught out.
Something which is increasingly common now are the Australia Post scams - remember: Australia Post don’t know your phone number so they can’t tell you if something is wrong. They’ve also done a recent advertising campaign stating that they now only send notifications through their official app so you can trust that it is from them.
