Fraudsters have found a new way to siphon off money from unsuspecting individuals by asking them to share their bank account details to claim refund of tax.
Fraudsters have found a new way to siphon off money from unsuspecting individuals by asking them to share their bank account details to claim refund of tax.
The modus operandi followed is to first send a phising e-mail claiming to be from the Income-Tax department.
The e-mail states that the recipient is eligible to claim a hefty sum as tax refund. The individual is then asked to open the attached link and provide his bank account details like the user id and password for the transfer of the refund money.
A banker who received such a mail from rf06@incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in said: “I went to the official site to check if there is any refund and the site said nil. My sixth sense prevented me from submitting the user id and password. Else I would have been cheated through the online fraud”.
When contacted, the Income-Tax department said it never sends such e-mails asking taxpayers to provide their financial information through e-mails. “This is to inform you that the mail id shared with us is a phishing mail and this mail id doesn’t exist in the Income-Tax Department mail server. Income Tax Department is issuing informative mails to taxpayers from time to time not to respond to such mails. Income Tax Department never asks for your PIN, credit card information or any other financial information through e-mails. Income Tax Department appeals to taxpayers not to respond to such e-mails and not to share information relating to their credit card, bank account and other financial information” the department’s e-filing help desk said in its response.
Earlier in 2014, the Income-Tax department had cautioned the public against responding to emails originating from private email addresses like gmail and yahoo among others.
“Tax-payers are cautioned that they should not respond to such phising mails and avoid downloading any attachment, which may contain virus or malicious software,-" the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in July 2014.
