CERT NZ and Inland Revenue urge New Zealanders to watch out for tax-related scams.
As the financial year has just ended, Inland Revenue (IRD) will be starting to get in contact with businesses and people about their end of year taxes.
Scammers use this to their advantage and target taxpayers to get their hands on your information, your myIR account, or your money. The most common way in which scammers target people is through phishing.
Phishing is a form of online attack where scammers send an email or text message pretending to be a trusted institution, asking you to click on a link, open an attachment or call a phone number.
Think before you click
Phishing messages are designed to look authentic and can be hard to detect. CERT NZ and IRD recommend looking out for a few things that make it easy to tell the fake messages from the real ones.
Where: If it’s an email, check that the part of the email after the @ is ‘ird.govt.nz.’
If it’s a text, check that it is from a 4-digit code. IRD will not send a message from a mobile phone or overseas number.
What: If the message has a link in it, do not click it. IRD does not send links to your myIR account.
How: IRD will address you by name and won’t put refund amounts in emails or texts.
You can find more information on the IRD’s website about the latest scams and tips on identifying phishing messages.