Inland Revenue has issued a warning about a sophisticated and widespread phishing scam that is designed to dupe people into handing over their bankcard details. The scam emails, which purport to be from Inland Revenue, tell people they are entitled to a tax refund which the department has been unable to automatically pay. It directs victims to a website to enter their card and personal details.
Tax refund scams are common but the emails are relatively well-worded and IR chief information security officer Doug Hammond said they looked very convincing.
But the address the emails were sent from were a potentially giveaway, as was hovering over the website link they encouraged victims to click on.
Hammond said about 700 people had contacted IR about the emails over the past week.
IR spokesman Baden Campbell said it wasn't in a position to know how many people might have fallen for the emails but it was aware of at least one person who had filled out some of the details asked for in the hyperlink.
Remember that the IRD will never ask for your bank details over email - if you are unsure please get in touch with the IRD or with your Accountant so we can check!
Check out the full article found on the Stuff Website here
