Don't do this first thing in the morning
Australians preparing for tax season have been warned to be watchful for early-morning scams designed to catch them off guard.
Taxpayers should expect a deluge of scam activity ahead of June 30, as cunning crooks impersonate the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) in emails and texts.
CPA Australia tax lead Jenny Wong warned the public that these communications could often be sent overnight, designed to catch people out before they'd had their morning coffee.
'These 'phishing' scams not only look legitimate, but they're designed to catch you off guard. That's why you'll often see them arrive first thing in the morning because you may be more likely to have a momentary lapse in judgment,' Ms Wong said.
'The scammers know Australians will have tax on their mind and are vulnerable to prompts to act, which is why these messages usually create a sense of urgency or claim of significant refund.
'While they could come at any time, be especially careful opening up and reading messages while you're still waking up in the morning.' Taxpayers have been warned to have their morning coffee before looking at any tax communications. NewsWire / Andrew Henshaw Credit: News Corp Australia
Scam emails impersonating the ATO have titles including 'Urgent new notification in your account inbox', directing unsuspecting people to log into their myGov account through a fake link.
ATO data shows a huge rise in this type of impersonation scam, up by more than 300 per cent in the past year.
The ATO said more scam messages were generally sent during tax time, as scammers tend to know taxpayers expect communications from the tax office.
To avoid falling prey to these scams, people have been warned to look for grammatical errors such as Americanised spellings in communications. Impersonation scam losses have increased massively this year. NewsWire / Nicholas Eagar Credit: NCA NewsWire
Other signs of scams are hyperlinks in unsolicited text messages, anomalies in the sender's email address, and requests for urgent personal or financial information.
The National Anti-Scam Centre reports that Australians have lost $13.7m in impersonation scams since the start of the year compared with $4.6m for the same period last year.
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This is the plan that the majority of Australians voted for at the recent federal election. So the burning question now is, how can we do this in a way that works for rural and regional Australia? READ MORE: RE-Alliance has been working with regional communities at the centre of the shift to renewables for more than a decade. Our work with leaders across country Australia has shown us there is a real appetite for a seat at the table in shaping legacy benefits like better roads, housing infrastructure and energy discounts for entire postcodes. They also want to share local knowledge on where projects should be situated to work best for farmers, nature and communities. There are hundreds of councillors, council staff, leaders of community organisations, farmers and passionate locals who want to come together to get the best outcomes for their communities - we need to listen to them and get on with the job of making this once-in-a-generation change work for rural and regional Australia.
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