Fraudsters send out fake tax notices. Here's how not to fall for their bait

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Take your time and check everything before transferring money to an unknown destination.

What's happened

The Federal Tax Service (FTS) reminds citizens that it is time to pay taxes using notifications, including paper ones. This is used by scammers who disguise their letters as departures from the department.

Fake notifications come in tax-branded envelopes and look pretty much the same. Only the details and QR-code will force you to transfer money not to the state at all, but to malefactors. In addition, payment amounts are often higher than they actually are.

Why it happens

The reason is a data leak. To send a fake letter from the tax office, attackers must get your name, surname and patronymic, registration address, TIN and information about your property. This is not very secret data, so they could get to the criminals from anywhere.

How not to be fooled

Remember if you should be notified

Certain categories of taxpayers should not receive the document by mail at all. You are one of them if:

• You have an exemption, deduction, or other reason that exempts you from paying tax.
• You were charged a tax of less than 100 rubles. In this case, a notice will be sent in a year or two, as soon as you owe a large amount.
• You have no property legally. For example, if the apartment is registered in the name of the spouse, then only he will receive the notification.
• You have registered in your personal account on the tax website. By default, notifications from the department will now come here. To receive them on paper, you must notify the Federal Tax Service of such a desire. If you have not done this, you should not wait for a letter in the mail.

Check notification

Here's what you need to pay attention to.

• Payment details. The beneficiary should be the Federal Treasury Department, in the “Beneficiary's bank” column - the Bank of Russia Main Directorate for your region.
• Information about the property. It is highly likely that the scammers could not get all the data on your apartments and cars and simply came up with something, such as the footage or cadastral number. Check everything before paying. This is useful in any case, since the FTS itself is sometimes mistaken. In this case, you may even be charged incorrect tax. Lifehacker has already written how to promptly amend the notification.
• Tax amount. A person who pays taxes once a year cannot always track all changes in this area. But if the amount in the notification is much larger than before, this is a reason to be wary. To clarify the data, go to your personal account on the FTS website. The easiest way to log in there is through the "State Services". At the same time, permanently solve the problem with paper notifications.

What to do if you transferred money to cybercriminals

File a fraud report with the police. Not the fact that you will be welcome there, but the money will be returned. However, if everyone does not give up the lost funds, but turns to law enforcement agencies, this will increase the chance of disclosing a criminal scheme. Fraudsters just count on the inattention and laziness of people, because usually we are talking about insignificant amounts.

By the way, in 2019, the deadline for paying taxes is December 2. From December 3, penalties will already be charged, so it's better not to delay.