Woman loses $41k after falling victim to tax return scam

Thursday, 31 March 2022

The end of the financial year brings about tax season and with it, an increase in the number of enterprising scammers attempting to steal money by impersonating Inland Revenue.

BNZ is warning customers to be vigilant this tax season after one woman was scammed out of $41,500 by a person impersonating Inland Revenue.

The woman received an email purporting to be from Inland Revenue advising her of a tax refund and asking her to verify her bank details. The customer was due a tax refund at the time so followed a link to a page that looked like IR, where she was asked to input her contact details and name her bank.

Upon selecting BNZ from the list of New Zealand banks, she was redirected to a BNZ login page where she was asked to enter her BNZ access number, password, and upload a copy of her NetGuard card.

The information was sent in real time to the offenders who then logged into internet banking using the customer’s credentials and made three unauthorised payments totalling $41,500 which were unable to be recovered.

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BNZ head of financial crime Ashley Kai Fong said the seasonal scam started around March and hit its peak in the middle of the year when Inland Revenue was sending out legitimate notices about tax returns.

BNZ warns customers to be vigilant after a customer was scammed out of $41,500 by a person impersonating Inland Revenue.

“The scammers rely on the victim being in a rush, not noticing the discrepancies compared to a legitimate tax return process, and tempting them with a believable and desirable amount of money,” he said.

Kai Fong said the scam had all the hallmarks of a regular phishing scam.

“Scammers know that tax returns are necessary and can be a bit of a hassle, but also a chance to get an unexpected cash windfall. By making things appear easy and straightforward, combined with the lure of a payoff, they tempt their victims into using a bogus site.”

But there were signs to watch for, he said.

“The email comes from an address that isn’t Inland Revenue’s, sometimes the English is poor and there are spelling mistakes, and while the site they ask you to visit looks legitimate, the URL is wrong,” he said.

“It’s important to always check whether the link in the email and the sender’s address is legitimate. If you feel like you’re being hurried to take action, take a step back and consider the situation. It also pays to be wary when the spelling and grammar is off.”

All tax returns are completed in the secure online MyIR portal, and people would never get emails with sensitive information such as the return amount specified in the body of the email.

Kai Fong encouraged anyone who thought they might have been a victim of a scam to get in touch with their bank immediately.

Scammers had targeted BNZ customers with a text scam in February.

The text message, which claimed to be from BNZ, said that due to numerous failed card payments the bank was placing a hold on the recipient's account.

It then directed the person to a link to verify their identity if they wanted to continue using the bank’s services.