Income Tax Refund Scam: I-T Dept issues warning - Here is how the phishing scam hacks bank accounts

Income Tax Refund: As the window for filing Income Tax Return (ITR) for FY23 ended on July 31, many taxpayers who had paid extra income tax and expected income tax refund began getting messages informing them of the amount they will be receiving as refund. Alongwith this, spammers have begun scamming gullible taxpayers by sending them a fraudulent message with a phishing link that can wipe their bank accounts clean, the Income Tax Department has informed.

The Income Tax Department has warned that any message claiming to pay taxpayers income tax refund of Rs 15,490 or any other amount, is a fake one. And any gullible taxpayer who clicks on the phishing link in the message, in order to "verify or update bank account" to receive the message, can get defrauded. 

In a tweet, the Income Tax Department said: "A viral message claims that the recipient has been approved for an income tax refund of ₹ 15,490. This claim is fake. @IncomeTaxIndia has not sent this message. Beware of such scams & refrain from sharing your personal information."

And the Income Tax Department has attached the screenshot of the scam message alongwith the tweet, which reads: “Dear Sir, You have been approved an income tax refund of Rs 15,490/-, the amount will be credited to your account shortly. Please verify your account number 5XXXXX6755. If this is not correct, please update your bank account information by visiting the link below.” 

Income Tax Refund: How this scam works?

Upon receiving the fraudulent message, if a gullible person clicks on the link mentioned in anticipation of a refund, then the link opens up a form. Wherein, the person is asked to enter their details - like PAN Card, Aadhaar-related information and bank account details. After adding all this information, the form takes the person to another page which shows a pre-set amount as the "Income Tax Refund Amount". When the person confirms this amount, the fraudsters use their bank and Aadhaar information to wipe their bank account clean. As per reports, several instances of such scams have been reported so far, leading to Income Tax Department issuing a fact-check denying any such message with a URL. 

Taxpayers must know that the Income Tax Department only credits Income Tax Refund in pre-validated bank accounts mentioned by the taxpayer in their ITR.

Income Tax Return Filing: Last day 

The last date to file Income Tax Return (ITR) for FY23 was Monday, July 31. As per a statement issued by the Income Tax Department, over 6.77 crore ITRs had been filed — which is 16.1 per cent more than the total ITRs for AY 2022-23 (5.83 crore) filed till 31 July, 2022.