Govt warns against mails promising income tax refunds

Beware, if you receive any e-mail from the income tax department promising a refund of taxes as it could just be a phishing attempt to get your credit card details.

Beware, if you receive any e-mail from the income tax department promising a refund of taxes as it could just be a phishing attempt to get your credit card details.

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The Income Tax department on Tuesday cautioned tax payers asking them not to send their credit card details in reply to e-mails received in the name of the department.

"It is clarified that the Income Tax Department does not send e-mails regarding refunds and does not seek any information regarding credit cards of taxpayers," the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) said in a statement.

The department had received information from many quarters that people are getting electronic mails informing them of their income-tax refunds and seeking their credit card details.

Cautioning people from responding to such mails, the tax department said, "they (taxpayers) should not respond to such mails and if they do so it would be at their risk and responsibility."

Recently, there have been several instances of phishing --or fraudulent mails that dupe people into giving their bank details and other crucial information.