Scams and Cyber Attacks
Recently there has been an IRD scam going around where scammers claiming to be from IRD are cold calling people to say that they are being investigated for tax fraud. The scammer requests personal information including the person's IRD number, before threatening them with legal action. In some cases people are told they must pay a debt urgently or face jail.
Some people have also reported scammers leaving voicemails stating the recipient is subject to criminal action for tax fraud, leaving a phone number for the person to return the call. Please note that the Police have shut down this scammer and that IRD will never cold call or leave a voicemail. If you have any concerns about anything at all please don't hesitate to get in contact.
A timely reminder to never give out personal details over the phone or via email if the source is unknown and not trusted.
There has also been recent cyber attacks that have lead to people being $15k out of pocket. A recent attack was a company that often dealt with offshore clients and they received an invoice from an Australian supplier via their Xtra email address. They paid it via internet banking and then a few weeks later got contacted by the supplier to say that they had not paid. Turns out someone intercepted the invoice from it leaving the supplier and reaching the company, and changed the bank account details on the invoice. Result is that the bank will not reimburse as it was a client "issue" not an internet banking fault and they advised that Xtra email addresses are extremely vulnerable. Once again it is important to have security in place and to be aware of the potential risks that the internet and cyber world may pose.
Some people have also reported scammers leaving voicemails stating the recipient is subject to criminal action for tax fraud, leaving a phone number for the person to return the call. Please note that the Police have shut down this scammer and that IRD will never cold call or leave a voicemail. If you have any concerns about anything at all please don't hesitate to get in contact.
A timely reminder to never give out personal details over the phone or via email if the source is unknown and not trusted.
There has also been recent cyber attacks that have lead to people being $15k out of pocket. A recent attack was a company that often dealt with offshore clients and they received an invoice from an Australian supplier via their Xtra email address. They paid it via internet banking and then a few weeks later got contacted by the supplier to say that they had not paid. Turns out someone intercepted the invoice from it leaving the supplier and reaching the company, and changed the bank account details on the invoice. Result is that the bank will not reimburse as it was a client "issue" not an internet banking fault and they advised that Xtra email addresses are extremely vulnerable. Once again it is important to have security in place and to be aware of the potential risks that the internet and cyber world may pose.
