Weiters scammed

[Thryleon]

That's incorrect Thry.  The ATO doesn't have a scammer hotline and neither do the banks.  You can forward dodgy emails or SMSs and you get an automated response. 

My original post was about an SMS the ATO sent me.  It was legitimate but the only way I could have checked was to wait in a queue or use their online communication app.

Weitering's bank advises customers that they will contact you in the event of suspicious activity.  That didn't happen and the scam was sophisticated enough to convince a pretty savvy bloke that it was genuine.  It was also timed to coincide with the end of business hours making it even harder to check.

No its not incorrect.

The appropriate action if you think you are being scammed is to reach out to the government entity and get a fact check on the claim. 

https://www.ato.gov.au/about-ato/contact-us/

https://www.ato.gov.au/general/online-se...rt-a-scam/

We will sometimes contact you by phone, email, SMS and post. If you're not sure whether it's really us, do not reply. You should phone us on 1800 008 540 to check.

THIS is the appropriate action if you are suspicious of any correspondence from the ATO.

Might take a while to get through.  I've only called it once, and waited the average 20 mins to get through to someone when needed. 


Ill let you guys decide who's incorrect or not.  I'll leave this be now.  There are ways for folk to protect themselves if they are willing to try.  If not, then you run the gauntlet of working out how or what correspondance to trust, but be warned, if you are in a situation where you cannot give something the appropriate attention, there are various ways to check and prove what is saying is correct without having to do anything, but if you want to check and triple check if you are being scammed the official entities contacting you will have a method for you to do so.