Date: 12/12/2017 15:32:49
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 1160408
Subject: Tax office scam.
Not a science topic, but I want you all to see this.
Warning, spent 2 hours on telephone with a tax office scam. Began with recorded message threatening immediate arrest if I didn’t ring a certain phone number. On phoning the number, people claiming to be “Investigation Tax Office” earbashed me for hours quoting legal legislation. Included a threat to freeze my assets and passport and seize my driving license. Clues to alert me included – failure to distinguish between “bar and state authorities” and “federal authorities”. In Australia, tax is Federal so this may have been copied from an American scam. They didn’t know either my name or tax file number. They couldn’t pin down the date of the alleged offence except within 2011 to 2015/2016. They insisted that I stay on the phone even while driving to the bank. And they talked me into agreeing with a confidentiality clause (don’t tell anyone). And wanted me to withdraw cash, that’s where I drew the line and stopped.
Other clues included: one official got the name of a second one wrong. One official was imprecise about the amount owed in tax. I got two different amounts quoted for the fine. Imprecise about whether it was due to misreporting of income or excessive deductions. Refused to say when I would receive written legal documentation. One official said that the offence was detected in 2016 but another said that I was supposed to have received legal documentation about it on 21 Sep 2015.
Attached is a scan of my abbreviated notes about the phone call.
Date: 12/12/2017 15:36:40
From: The Rev Dodgson
ID: 1160411
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
mollwollfumble said:
Not a science topic, but I want you all to see this.
Warning, spent 2 hours on telephone with a tax office scam. Began with recorded message threatening immediate arrest if I didn’t ring a certain phone number. On phoning the number, people claiming to be “Investigation Tax Office” earbashed me for hours quoting legal legislation. Included a threat to freeze my assets and passport and seize my driving license. Clues to alert me included – failure to distinguish between “bar and state authorities” and “federal authorities”. In Australia, tax is Federal so this may have been copied from an American scam. They didn’t know either my name or tax file number. They couldn’t pin down the date of the alleged offence except within 2011 to 2015/2016. They insisted that I stay on the phone even while driving to the bank. And they talked me into agreeing with a confidentiality clause (don’t tell anyone). And wanted me to withdraw cash, that’s where I drew the line and stopped.
Other clues included: one official got the name of a second one wrong. One official was imprecise about the amount owed in tax. I got two different amounts quoted for the fine. Imprecise about whether it was due to misreporting of income or excessive deductions. Refused to say when I would receive written legal documentation. One official said that the offence was detected in 2016 but another said that I was supposed to have received legal documentation about it on 21 Sep 2015.
Attached is a scan of my abbreviated notes about the phone call.
I’m surprised you phoned them back.
Are you going to tell the real tax office?
Date: 12/12/2017 15:38:58
From: Stumpy_seahorse
ID: 1160412
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
mollwollfumble said:
Not a science topic, but I want you all to see this.
Warning, spent 2 hours on telephone with a tax office scam. Began with recorded message threatening immediate arrest if I didn’t ring a certain phone number. On phoning the number, people claiming to be “Investigation Tax Office” earbashed me for hours quoting legal legislation. Included a threat to freeze my assets and passport and seize my driving license. Clues to alert me included – failure to distinguish between “bar and state authorities” and “federal authorities”. In Australia, tax is Federal so this may have been copied from an American scam. They didn’t know either my name or tax file number. They couldn’t pin down the date of the alleged offence except within 2011 to 2015/2016. They insisted that I stay on the phone even while driving to the bank. And they talked me into agreeing with a confidentiality clause (don’t tell anyone). And wanted me to withdraw cash, that’s where I drew the line and stopped.
Other clues included: one official got the name of a second one wrong. One official was imprecise about the amount owed in tax. I got two different amounts quoted for the fine. Imprecise about whether it was due to misreporting of income or excessive deductions. Refused to say when I would receive written legal documentation. One official said that the offence was detected in 2016 but another said that I was supposed to have received legal documentation about it on 21 Sep 2015.
Attached is a scan of my abbreviated notes about the phone call.
It took you that long to figure out it was a scam?
this bit would’ve done it for me..
“Began with recorded message threatening immediate arrest if I didn’t ring a certain phone number”
they don’t ring you to tell you they are going to arrest you.. they just turn up with a warrant
Date: 12/12/2017 15:41:37
From: furious
ID: 1160415
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
- they don’t ring you to tell you they are going to arrest you.. they just turn up with a warrant
Or they tell you that you have won a boat and have to come and collect it…
Date: 12/12/2017 15:42:52
From: Michael V
ID: 1160416
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
I remember a recent article about this type of scam.
Date: 12/12/2017 15:46:10
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 1160421
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
furious said:
- they don’t ring you to tell you they are going to arrest you.. they just turn up with a warrant
Or they tell you that you have won a boat and have to come and collect it…
I got a phone call once that said I’d won a free trip to New York. I didn’t hang up. It was genuine.
As you can guess, there was a lot more said on the phone than I wrote down.
Date: 12/12/2017 15:46:52
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 1160422
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
Michael V said:
I remember a recent article about this type of scam.
Can you dig out a reference?
Date: 12/12/2017 15:49:08
From: Michael V
ID: 1160423
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
https://www.ato.gov.au/general/online-services/identity-security/verify-or-report-a-scam/
https://www.ato.gov.au/general/online-services/identity-security/scam-alerts/
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-12/ato-scam-backfires-when-abc-presenter-targeted/8895030
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-21/ato-scammer-caught-on-tape-threatening-police-legal-action/8963326
Date: 12/12/2017 15:51:01
From: Peak Warming Man
ID: 1160424
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
FMD Moll.
They’ll be back, they’ll have you marked down as a possible hit.
Next time it might be a different scam, just hang up, don’t ask them anything, don’t engage with the, just hang up.
Date: 12/12/2017 15:54:21
From: Stumpy_seahorse
ID: 1160427
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
Peak Warming Man said:
FMD Moll.
They’ll be back, they’ll have you marked down as a possible hit.
Next time it might be a different scam, just hang up, don’t ask them anything, don’t engage with the, just hang up.
they’ll be cutting ecery time he said “yes” out of the recording and splicing it in
“do you agree to donate all your worldly goods to PeterTMinistries?”..
Moll recording “Yes”
“Are you sure?”
Moll recording “Yes”
Date: 12/12/2017 15:59:25
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 1160429
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
Michael V said:
https://www.ato.gov.au/general/online-services/identity-security/verify-or-report-a-scam/
https://www.ato.gov.au/general/online-services/identity-security/scam-alerts/
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-12/ato-scam-backfires-when-abc-presenter-targeted/8895030
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-21/ato-scammer-caught-on-tape-threatening-police-legal-action/8963326
Ta. Will read shortly. In the meantime, I added a comment on
http://www.reverseau.com/03-9005-7499.html#comments
Date: 12/12/2017 16:00:55
From: Cymek
ID: 1160430
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
Peak Warming Man said:
FMD Moll.
They’ll be back, they’ll have you marked down as a possible hit.
Next time it might be a different scam, just hang up, don’t ask them anything, don’t engage with the, just hang up.
Date: 12/12/2017 16:08:15
From: poikilotherm
ID: 1160434
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
Cymek said:
Peak Warming Man said:
FMD Moll.
They’ll be back, they’ll have you marked down as a possible hit.
Next time it might be a different scam, just hang up, don’t ask them anything, don’t engage with the, just hang up.
lol
Date: 12/12/2017 16:18:11
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 1160437
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
PS, for starters there are three people sharing this landline, so it wasn’t immediately obvious who the message was for.
> Are you going to tell the real tax office?
No. There is an ATO phone number where you can ask about scam phone numbers – it’s a 1800 number. But they ought to be aware of this one by now.
“If you are in doubt about an interaction you have had with someone claiming to be from the ATO, or you think you have fallen victim to an ATO Impersonation scam, you can call us on 1800 008 540 between 8:00am–6:00pm Monday to Friday”.
Date: 12/12/2017 16:23:00
From: Cymek
ID: 1160440
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
mollwollfumble said:
PS, for starters there are three people sharing this landline, so it wasn’t immediately obvious who the message was for.
> Are you going to tell the real tax office?
No. There is an ATO phone number where you can ask about scam phone numbers – it’s a 1800 number. But they ought to be aware of this one by now.
“If you are in doubt about an interaction you have had with someone claiming to be from the ATO, or you think you have fallen victim to an ATO Impersonation scam, you can call us on 1800 008 540 between 8:00am–6:00pm Monday to Friday”.
Did you have something to feel guilty about perhaps a few stolen pens from the CSIRO
Date: 12/12/2017 17:49:20
From: buffy
ID: 1160512
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
They left this one on the answering machine at work a few times. Sometimes they messed up the script a bit. We completely ignored them.
Date: 12/12/2017 17:50:57
From: Cymek
ID: 1160513
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
buffy said:
They left this one on the answering machine at work a few times. Sometimes they messed up the script a bit. We completely ignored them.
I got some scam SMS and sent them back a number of scam messages myself as a joke, I never heard back
Date: 12/12/2017 19:53:43
From: Ian
ID: 1160546
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
>Began with recorded message threatening immediate arrest
That should have been a huge red light there. The ATO or any government agency don’t act like that.
I got one of these calls and admittedly it was a very comvincing recording with an extremely authoritative educated sounding deep male voice. But it was a recording.
I’m not surprised that some people would be taken in, unfortunately.
Date: 12/12/2017 21:11:42
From: sarahs mum
ID: 1160610
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
It’s easy for me to not fall for this one. But I nearly fell for the Centrelink scam. I reported it to C’link. They told me hang up on any future calls from C’link.This may or may not have been the best advice.
Date: 12/12/2017 23:10:08
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 1160665
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
buffy said:
Guilty conscience?
My tax returns have been genuinely queried by the tax office on at least four occasions, including in 2012 and early last year. In 2012 it was their fault, last year it was my fault in that I’d mistaken a credit for a debit or the other way around. Sometimes I fight their queries and win. Sometimes I just pay the extra without a fight. The one last year the first I knew about it was when I got an unexpected call from the tax office demanding payment.
In addition, this year I had an unexpected genuine phone call from a debt collection agency on behalf of an electricity company. Like the present case there was no prior notification and there was the threat of legal action. In that case the lack of prior communication was because the electricity company sent notifications to both the wrong email and postal addresses. It happens.
Date: 13/12/2017 06:27:51
From: buffy
ID: 1160705
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
buffy said:
They left this one on the answering machine at work a few times. Sometimes they messed up the script a bit. We completely ignored them.
Oi! I’ve only got one post in this thread until this one and it doesn’t say anything about consciences, guilty or otherwise!
Date: 13/12/2017 07:33:05
From: Divine Angel
ID: 1160709
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
Two hours on the phone?!? Geez moll, if you’re desperate for someone to talk to, just jump on the forum. At least we make sense… most of the time. Ok, some of the time. Occasionally.
Date: 13/12/2017 08:04:59
From: captain_spalding
ID: 1160714
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
I find it disappointing.
If they ring me up, and there’s a real person at their end, i can have some fun with them.
If it’s a recording, and i have to phone them, that’s too much bother for me.
I did get this tax scam call a few days ago – i just said (probably just to the machine), ‘come and get me, dickheads’, and hung up.
Other than that, i haven’t had any scam calls for weeks and weeks. I think that i must be on their ‘too hard’ list.
Date: 13/12/2017 08:06:48
From: The Rev Dodgson
ID: 1160715
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
Divine Angel said:
Two hours on the phone?!? Geez moll, if you’re desperate for someone to talk to, just jump on the forum. At least we make sense… most of the time. Ok, some of the time. Occasionally.
I prefer to think of our nonsense as often amusing, and sometimes insightful.
Date: 13/12/2017 08:08:03
From: captain_spalding
ID: 1160717
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
ho hum, ho hum, it’s off to work we go.
Date: 13/12/2017 08:33:33
From: Michael V
ID: 1160725
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
The Rev Dodgson said:
Divine Angel said:
Two hours on the phone?!? Geez moll, if you’re desperate for someone to talk to, just jump on the forum. At least we make sense… most of the time. Ok, some of the time. Occasionally.
I prefer to think of our nonsense as often amusing, and sometimes insightful.
Huh!
I think the same way. I’m surprised anyone thinks like me.
Date: 13/12/2017 13:41:50
From: sarahs mum
ID: 1160844
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
http://www.mygc.com.au/christmas-shoppers-warned-dangerous-australia-post-parcel-scam/
Date: 13/12/2017 13:45:31
From: Bubblecar
ID: 1160847
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
sarahs mum said:
http://www.mygc.com.au/christmas-shoppers-warned-dangerous-australia-post-parcel-scam/
Seems most scammers just can’t avoid prominent spelling errors.
Date: 13/12/2017 14:02:09
From: sarahs mum
ID: 1160852
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
Bubblecar said:
sarahs mum said:
http://www.mygc.com.au/christmas-shoppers-warned-dangerous-australia-post-parcel-scam/
Seems most scammers just can’t avoid prominent spelling errors.
I had a lady go off at me on the Tassie gardeners facebook page this morning. I did really want to correct her bad premise and her spelling but settled on just picking out how rude she was being. She continued with the rudeness and bad spelling so I just left her there hanging herself.
Date: 13/12/2017 14:48:22
From: Arts
ID: 1160869
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
Morning.. Just got home from Miss j’s graduation ceremony..
these kids are overachievers… Miss J took out the Meritorious award for the area (11 schools in total) and Mr A won the Academic excellence award for his year.
now I have to allow them icecream tonight..
Date: 13/12/2017 14:49:51
From: Arts
ID: 1160871
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
Arts said:
Morning.. Just got home from Miss j’s graduation ceremony..
these kids are overachievers… Miss J took out the Meritorious award for the area (11 schools in total) and Mr A won the Academic excellence award for his year.
now I have to allow them icecream tonight..
wrong thread obviously…
Date: 13/12/2017 14:50:13
From: Cymek
ID: 1160873
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
Arts said:
Morning.. Just got home from Miss j’s graduation ceremony..
these kids are overachievers… Miss J took out the Meritorious award for the area (11 schools in total) and Mr A won the Academic excellence award for his year.
now I have to allow them icecream tonight..
And you think because they are smart they are behind the scam ?
Date: 13/12/2017 14:53:38
From: Arts
ID: 1160874
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
Cymek said:
Arts said:
Morning.. Just got home from Miss j’s graduation ceremony..
these kids are overachievers… Miss J took out the Meritorious award for the area (11 schools in total) and Mr A won the Academic excellence award for his year.
now I have to allow them icecream tonight..
And you think because they are smart they are behind the scam ?
maybe, I don’t watch them all day
Date: 13/12/2017 14:54:34
From: JudgeMental
ID: 1160875
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
Arts said:
Morning.. Just got home from Miss j’s graduation ceremony..
these kids are overachievers… Miss J took out the Meritorious award for the area (11 schools in total) and Mr A won the Academic excellence award for his year.
now I have to allow them icecream tonight..
you spoil them.
Date: 13/12/2017 14:55:40
From: Cymek
ID: 1160878
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
JudgeMental said:
Arts said:
Morning.. Just got home from Miss j’s graduation ceremony..
these kids are overachievers… Miss J took out the Meritorious award for the area (11 schools in total) and Mr A won the Academic excellence award for his year.
now I have to allow them icecream tonight..
you spoil them.
Could be non diary, no sugar carob icecream
Date: 13/12/2017 15:12:03
From: sarahs mum
ID: 1160884
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
Arts said:
Morning.. Just got home from Miss j’s graduation ceremony..
these kids are overachievers… Miss J took out the Meritorious award for the area (11 schools in total) and Mr A won the Academic excellence award for his year.
now I have to allow them icecream tonight..
Incredible achievement. Well done to Jade. And…well done to the mother and father. You are all excellent.
Date: 14/12/2017 19:20:56
From: mollwollfumble
ID: 1161455
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
Bubblecar said:
sarahs mum said:
http://www.mygc.com.au/christmas-shoppers-warned-dangerous-australia-post-parcel-scam/
Seems most scammers just can’t avoid prominent spelling errors.
On the phone?
Date: 14/12/2017 19:41:36
From: btm
ID: 1161464
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
mollwollfumble said:
Bubblecar said:
sarahs mum said:
http://www.mygc.com.au/christmas-shoppers-warned-dangerous-australia-post-parcel-scam/
Seems most scammers just can’t avoid prominent spelling errors.
On the phone?
Did you report this to the police, moll? They’d be able to trace the phone number you were asked to call, and could (possibly) bring the scammers to justice.
Date: 14/12/2017 19:43:38
From: AwesomeO
ID: 1161465
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
btm said:
mollwollfumble said:
Bubblecar said:
Seems most scammers just can’t avoid prominent spelling errors.
On the phone?
Did you report this to the police, moll? They’d be able to trace the phone number you were asked to call, and could (possibly) bring the scammers to justice.
Probably pointless, jurisdictions and all that.
Date: 14/12/2017 19:46:27
From: btm
ID: 1161466
Subject: re: Tax office scam.
AwesomeO said:
btm said:
mollwollfumble said:
On the phone?
Did you report this to the police, moll? They’d be able to trace the phone number you were asked to call, and could (possibly) bring the scammers to justice.
Probably pointless, jurisdictions and all that.
Probably; the scammers might not even be in this country, but it’s still worth trying.