E-Paper
ITR refund scam: Income Tax department warns taxpayers of fraudulent emails and messages
The Income Tax department said taxpayers must verify income tax refund status through the official sources only and double check emails and messages for fraud
The Income Tax Department (IT) has cautioned taxpayers in an advisory to be vary of online scams from fake calls and pop-up notifications which say that they can avail tax refunds.
Taxpayers who receive fake messages must first verify if this is true or not with the IT department, according to its official post on X.
“Do not reply to emails or visit websites that request credit card numbers, bank account details, or any other sensitive information. The Income Tax Department may contact taxpayers through the email address provided,” the IT department wrote on X.
“The fake message may read like this: You have been approved an Income Tax Refund of Rs, 15000/-, the amount will be credited to your account shortly, Please verify your account number 5XXXXX6777. If this is not correct, please update your bank account information by visiting the link below," it added.
Taxpayers should ideally forward such fraudulent messages and emails to the IT department's official website.
How to report fake messages?
You can forward suspicious emails to webmanager@incometax.gov.in. You can also forward a copy of the same to incident@cert-in.org.in.
“If you receive a phishing mail, forward the same to incident@cert-in.org.in,” the Income Tax Department wrote.
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The IT department also has warned taxpayers not to reply or open attachments enclosed in fake mails from people who claim to be from the IT department. Any links given in such mails are also not to be directly clicked on or or cut and pasted to browsers.
Apart from this, taxpayers must also protect sensitive information such as that of Aadhar, OTPs, and passwords.
