I had a message on my answering machine when I got home today from the "Department of Prosecutions" ringing on behalf of the Australian Tax Office. The caller said they had an arrest warrant out for me for tax avoidance and my home was under surveillance giving a phone number for me to ring (Sydney number 02) to discuss the matter about my outstanding debt to the ATO.
As you would know it was another attempted fraud and if I had rung the number I would have been asked to pay an amount to the supposed Tax Office. I rang the ATO to report it, they said they had a number of similar cases reported, sometimes using the number they gave me and sometimes another number, it had been reported to the relevant authorities.
Although I knew this call I received was a scam, the caller was pretty convincing if not ludicrous in his phone call, I hope those more gullible don't get caught by these scammers.
And the other way to tell it's a scam is it was by phone call. If you had a warrant out on you it would be served to you. And if you were in trouble with the ATO you'd receive a letter anyway.
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Yes I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.
I had a message on my answering machine when I got home today from the "Department of Prosecutions" ringing on behalf of the Australian Tax Office. The caller said they had an arrest warrant out for me for tax avoidance and my home was under surveillance giving a phone number for me to ring (Sydney number 02) to discuss the matter about my outstanding debt to the ATO.
As you would know it was another attempted fraud and if I had rung the number I would have been asked to pay an amount to the supposed Tax Office. I rang the ATO to report it, they said they had a number of similar cases reported, sometimes using the number they gave me and sometimes another number, it had been reported to the relevant authorities.
Although I knew this call I received was a scam, the caller was pretty convincing if not ludicrous in his phone call, I hope those more gullible don't get caught by these scammers.
I had a very similar call last week Weevil. He asked me if I had a Lawyer, I said "yes but why would I need one? He said I owed the ATO money due to fraud. I said "I am a disability pensioner and don't pay tax, and who are you?" He told me again and I said "give me proof," he said they would be sending the police to arrest me and I told him, "go ahead I will wait for them!!" Then click, he hung up.
It's after 11:00am and I haven't yet got my daily calls from Solar companies, Telstra, Tax office etc. I tell them it's inconvenient for me to continue with the call and could they give me a number to ring them back on - CLICK.
I'm tempted to get my landline barred from "Private Caller" or "Overseas Caller" as no legit person comes thru on either type of call. If they do they can leave a message. However in the last 2 days I've got calls showing up a real numbers that Telstra says has been disconnected.
I just got a call from a private number claiming to be from the Tax Office, so I told her to stick her head someplace awkward and to bugger off...
Then I remembered my Mrs works there... OOPs...
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Yes I am an agent of Satan, but my duties are largely ceremonial.