Are you a taxpayer? Beware! This Income tax refund fraud will lead to big money loss

Income tax refund fraud: Honest income tax payers must beware of tax refund fraud where they can end up losing their hard earned money. The fraudsters are becoming increasingly adept at stealing Income tax payers money. So, if you get a call, message, e-mail about income tax refund, you should be more than careful about what steps you take. Remember, it is important that you do these things. Remember that Income Tax department does not demand any such sensitive information from anyone about income tax refund. 

Today's world is becoming high-tech and advanced with the growing use of technology. It has also enabled fraudsters to adopt new and modern age tricks to cheat people. People have become victims of fraud e-mails and messages over ITR refunds. The fraudsters in the name of Income Tax Department ask for personal information making false promises of tax refund claims and other fake promises where they say they will refund your money if you do what they tell you!

Tax Refund fraud messages

Among them, to start off and win trust of innocent taxpayers, it includes being asked to fill the ITR before the last date. Messages are also being sent to claim the ITR refund. These e-mails and SMS have a catchy subject line. A link is provided at the end of these emails or SMS. And you are asked to click on the link. Which opens a new website as soon as it is clicked. In which all information is sought from you through a form. This information also includes information about your bank accounts. You are also asked for your Aadhaar card number. Also, you are asked for your PAN card number. All this is secret information and the taxpayer should, under no circumstances, provide it to anyone.

Why? Because under the excuse of giving you your tax refund, the fraudsters will empty your bank account. In fact you can lose a huge amount fo money in a jiffy. All your confidential information can also be sold further and you can be targetted by other fraudsters too at a later date and you would not find out till it is too late.

The Income Tax Department has already issued several warnings in this regard. The I-T department has appealed that people should not open any such email or SMS. Also if, you are not given any attachment on such mail, do not download it by mistake, as sometimes the viruses may be hidden in the attachment. Also, do not click a link on email or SMS. These links are of fake websites, which are purposely made to loot people.

According to experts, the people who usually get these fake emails or SMSs, are the ones who are worried about their ITR refunds or are told they have filed their ITR with errors and repeatedly search the related information on Internet and social media.

The lessons for people to realise about this tax refund fraud are:

- The purpose of these fake emails or SMS is to trap people.
- Steal their personal information - from bank account details to Aadhaar card and PAN
- Only fraudsters ask for this information. I-T department does not ask for your personal details in mail or through calls.
- As soon as you think there is a problem, you should immediately report the matter to your bank or tax authorities
- Under no circumstances should you talk or communicate with any such people who ask for your tax refund or bank account details

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Today, when the fraudster is sitting in a position to beat you up at every turn, it is important that you remain alert. One should not rely on any email or SMS. The IT department says that you should go directly to the website of the department and get all the information through the official website only. You can get all the information, simply by logging in with your ID and password.