120 reports in 12 hours: Kiwis hit by IRD tax refund scam

Inland Revenue has issued an urgent warning about a tax scam that has caught many people off guard today.

The agency has received about 120 calls in the last 12 hours alone about the scam, which purports to be from Inland Revenue.

According to a statement from Inland Revenue, the email and attached form look 'very convincing'.

The phishing scam's sender address "appears as "Inland Revenue Department" but is actually sent from IRDxxxxx@s1.nzr.review. The address is false, but looks convincing to the layperson's eye," a statement from Inland Revenue says.

"A form comes as an attachment called TaxReturn.HTM. Again it looks convincing but is fake and designed to collect personal and credit card data," the statement continues.

Inland Revenue strongly warns recipients not to open the attachment.

If you have clicked on the form and submitted any personal or credit card data please contact your bank immediately.  We also recommend you contact IDcare (http://www.idcare.org or phone 0800 201 415).

People can also notify Inland Revenue at phishing@ird.govt.nz

The content of the phishing email is below:

From: "Inland Revenue Department" <IRDny621@s1.nzr.review> Date: 24 August 2017 at 17:41:31 GMT-6 To:  Subject: IRD Refund Status (IRD-1G993) Inland Revenue Department (IRD) 25-August-2017 As you were informed, we have determined that you should receive a tax refund. We have tried to process your refund however, the transaction has not been authorized. Possible reasons are: - Your financial information has been changed or updated; - Error with your personal information (e.g. misspelled name or address). To receive your tax refund, please follow next steps: - Save the attached tax return form and open it in a web browser (e.g. Safari, Firefox or Chrome). - Once opened, you will be provided with the steps to complete and submit your tax return form. Please allow up to 28 days for your refund to be processed. In the meantime, if your financial details are changed, please resubmit the form. If you can't download, open or submit the form, please try using a different browser. Andrew Allen Inland Revenue Department Message ID: IRD029 This mailbox is not monitored and you will not receive a response before to submit the form. To Unsubscribe from future notifications, reply to this email with Unsubscribe in the subject line.