In its bid to protect Australian residents from crypto related scams, as the country is in its tax payment period, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has warned taxpayers to be on the lookout for any suspicious or anonymous activity that requires them to make payment using cryptocurrency. The agency made sure to advise residents against the use of BTC ATMs for transactions that involves payment to people they have no direct access to, in case they will need a refund.
Scammers Now Prefer BTC cash ATMs over iTunes
The report from the agency has noted that these scammers have stopped using iTunes vouchers to rip people off, now they mostly make use of BTC cash ATMs. The reason behind this is quite simple. BTC payments are anonymous and very difficult to trace. As a result, these scammers tend to get away easily and without a trace.
Warning From the Australian Taxation Office (ATO)
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) also made it known that about one million Australians are due to pay their taxes to the ATO on Nov. 21. From experience, the agency made it known that the days preceding this date is usually riddle with tax-related scams. The agency made it known that the scammers usually target the aged.
The assistant commissioner of the ATO, Kath Anderson confirmed this through a statement she made recently.
She stated that:
“November is a prime time for scammers as they know lots of people have tax bills to pay. Be wary if someone contacts you demanding payment of a tax debt you didn’t know you owed,”
She added that the tax collector “will never ask you to make a payment into an ATM or via gift or prepaid cards such as iTunes and Visa cards, or direct credit to be paid to a personal bank account.” she advised that if one is not sure of the legitimacy of a call, such call should be disconnected immediately and reported.
She further made it known that about 28,000 scam attempts, has been reported to the agency since July 2018. She also noted that the scammer has stolen about $1 million from their various victims.