In 2012, the Australian Tax Office received just over 26,000 reports from the public on a wide range of scams including fake job advertisements, emails and bogus phone calls.
An ATO spokesman commented that various tricks where used by the scammers like sending emails with attachments that appear to have come from the ATO, which when downloaded infect your computer with malicious software and including a legitimate-sounding message at the start of a call, such as the call is being recorded ‘for training purposes’.
The ATO spokesman added that anyone can be the victim of a scam. If a correspondence seems suspicious, too good to be true, asks you for personal details or cannot be verified through an official source, it is likely to be a scam and should be reported to the ATO by calling 1800 060 062 (8.00am – 6.00pm, Monday to Friday)