You may have recently got a suspicious email from ‘myGov’. The emails will say there’s a problem with your tax return. They threaten legal action if you don’t enter your details into a website. They also include an attachment asking you to confirm your details.
This email is a scam. Don’t open the file attached to this email. These emails often begin by saying, ‘Dear myGov Customer’.
It tells you ‘myGov’ noticed a discrepancy in your previous tax return. It also tells you to see attached details and verify your information to avoid legal action.
Although we do email people, we won’t ask you to download attachments. There are other ways you can tell if an email is from us. We also don’t:
- ask you to give us personal information or documents via email
- ask you to write back to emails from us.
You should also never enter personal details into a website that doesn’t belong to official government domains. To check if the government website is genuine, make sure its address ends in ‘.gov.au’.
What to do if you get this scam email
If you get this scam email, there are steps you can take to protect yourself and report the scam.
You should call or email the Scams and Identity Theft Helpdesk straight away, if you’ve done any of the following:
- opened an attachment or a link in these emails
- replied to the email
- given any of the personal details the email asks for.
If you have an Australian Taxation Office scam query, you can visit their scams page for help.
Next steps
Find out:
- how to know if something is a scam
- how to protect yourself against scams
- what to do if a scam has affected you.