A cunning attempt at Fraud

There is an ever increasing number of electronic means of accessing the Tax Office for lodging personal tax returns, most of which base their offer on low prices. The problem is that low prices usually means low service levels. All sorts of glitches may occur from system breakdowns to hackers accessing the system and lodging false returns to access fat tax refunds.

Recently we were made aware of a long standing client that had been taken advantage of by a hacking attempt to lodge an amended 2019 tax return.  Our client received a call from the online tax return company (the company that was being used by the hackers) to check if this request was arranged by them. Our client had not requested this service & upon making the representative aware of this, they were advised to make contact with the ATO or their current accountant to sort out any issues. Naturally, our client came to us to intervene on their behalf & were very concerned about identity theft & an attempt of fraud.

Hackers are very cunning & have many ways of gathering personal information over time to gain enough of it to give them power to act as you.

In this event, with the help of a trusted accountant our client was not left alone trying to negotiate the different areas of the Tax Office to fix a problem not of their making. If you are time poor, hours spent on sorting out problems with Government Departments is exasperating.

The moral of this story is that with the fast pace of change in our environment you need to deal with trusted Accountants and advisers in all areas concerning money. This ensures you have the best results you can get and the backup you need so you are not alone in this rapidly changing world.

Written by Bob Reus

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