The email claims that recipients are entitled to a significant compensation payment. This email is a scam, and ASIC urges anyone who receives it or something similar to delete the email.

If you think you or a client has been a victim of this scam or believes an account may have been compromised, you should contact your credit union, building society or bank immediately.

ASIC Commissioner, Peter Kell, said, ‘Scams aim to trick you into providing payments in advance or your personal details. Scammers may use fake websites, links or logos as well as the names of real businesses. They may even pretend to be from a government agency or financial institution to appear genuine.

Consumers are encouraged to conduct some basic checks before acting on an email or phone call out of the blue’. 

Warning signs

• You receive a surprise call or email claiming you are entitled to a compensation payment or funds recovered from an earlier scam
• The caller or sender pretends to be from a real business, government agency or financial organisation
• In order to receive the funds, you are required to pay a fee in advance to cover costs such as ‘administration’ fees, ‘bonds or security deposits’ or ‘outstanding taxes’
• The scammer will request payment via a money transfer service or your personal or banking information.

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“One of the most alarming incidents is that scammers are using fake job advertisements to illegally access people’s personal information,” said Tax Commissioner Michael D’Ascenzo.

“Bogus job ads are being posted on recruitment websites by scammers where people are being asked to provide their tax file numbers (TFN) as a part of their job application.”

In some cases, people have even been offered the advertised position and then asked to provide their TFN and bank account details prior to the start date of employment and after providing this personal information, the job offer has then been withdrawn.

ATO investigations have shown that the advertised positions never existed and those running the scams generally communicate by email or mobile phones.

“You should not provide a prospective employer with personal details, such as your tax file number or bank account details until after you begin work in the position,” said Mr D’Ascenzo.

“Personal information can be used by scammers to lodge false tax returns in your name, enable the use of your credit cards or even result in people taking out a loan in your name. In some cases, identity crime can take years to resolve.

“This year there have been over 6,000 reports from the community about bogus e-mails using the ATO brand, and over 4,000 reports of attempted phone scams. At this time of year when many people expect refunds, scammers use the opportunity to pretend to be from the ATO.”

Only certain people and organisations can ask for your TFN, the most common being:

• the ATO
• when discussing your tax recordsyour employer, but only after you start work
• your bank or other financial institution
• Centrelink
• your superannuation fund.

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