The inspector-general of taxation is investigating the theft and hijacking of personal information that has allowed millions of dollars of tax fraud by professional scammers.
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The inspector-general of taxation believes millions of dollars is being lost through fraudulent access to myGov ATO accounts
Once inside the account, scammers redirect tax refunds to their own bank accounts, sometimes creating bogus claims
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“It does rattle confidence in the tax system,” Ms Payne told the ABC’s AM program.
"How many of those tax debts have been created because people have fraudulently accessed people’s personal details to claim refunds they’re not entitled to?
“How has somebody been able to infiltrate the tax system?”
Tax agent here.
I’ve seen a bunch of tax payers fall victim to this. It’s not sophisticated. Just answer people’s secret questions to access their mygov accounts. That’s it.
Thereafter it’s trivial to request changes to a tax return that will generate a refund of $20k, whatever really.
It would be trivial for the ATO to intercept. A highschool student could write a database query to reveal the fraudulent changes.
Sounds like we need a royal commission with all the trimmings then. The recommendations will be strongly considered.
Not really.
Cancel all mygov accounts that are using secret questions as 2 factor auth. Job done.
Most of the “scammers” are peoples junkie kids. I shit you not.
They can’t / won’t do that though because then you can’t blame old / poor people for being old / poor and not being able to access services.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The inspector-general of taxation is investigating the theft and hijacking of personal information that has allowed millions of dollars of tax fraud by professional scammers.
Karen Payne — whose agency probes complaints about the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) — has raised concerns that criminals have been using stolen identities to infiltrate the tax system to change details and then illegally claim refunds belonging to another taxpayer.
In many cases, the fraudsters generate bogus refund claims, leaving their victims with tax debts that then need to be explained to the ATO.
Ms Payne says scammers have been able to reap windfall refunds as part of a criminal bonanza by conning victims via texts, emails, phone calls and even traditional snail mail.
The ATO has agreed to meet with Ms Payne in early 2024 to provide a briefing on the extent of the tax identity fraud where complaints have not been resolved.
Taxpayers who suspect they are victims of tax identity fraud should call 1800 467 033 and a complaint can be lodged with the ATO.
The original article contains 369 words, the summary contains 174 words. Saved 53%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
