Beware of fraud Income Tax refund SMS

In the current technologically advanced era, scammers are making use of every chance to trick people and benefit from the same. As it is time for filing income tax, scammers have taken this route. A new cybercrime racket involving fake SMS from the Income Tax department is reportedly under investigation.

A month ago, as the deadline for IT return filing is nearing, people started receiving fake SMS claimed to be sent by the Income Tax department. This scam lets scammers get hold of your IT funds or sell your details in the dark net for phishing activities.

Income tax cyber crime

As per a report by The Hindu, the message claims that the income tax refund has been approved and contains a wrong bank account number. The recipient is asked to check if the account number is correct or not. If it is not, then the user is asked to visit a link provided in the message to change the account number.

As the account number is wrong, many people end up clicking on the link. Doing so, a website similar to that of the Income Tax department opens. There are fields prompting users to type the login ID and password. In the next step, it asks the correct bank account details so that the cybercriminals can get easy access to the account.

Once the bank account number is exposed, the unsuspecting users will get calls from fraudsters claiming to be IT officials. They claim that there were irregularities in the IT returns filed by them and that they have to pay a fine. If now, the fraudsters can sell the data in the dark net, claims the report.

Using the login details of the IT department website, scammers can transfer your funds into his or her own account or change the details in the records.

How to stay safe from such scams

To avoid falling prey to such scams, you should stay away from replying to suspicious messages and emails. Always try to be keen in finding errors in sensitive messages as such messages might have spelling and grammar errors. The letters also could be jumbled in the URL. And, make sure you file a complaint against the same so that there is an end to the scam.