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Good morning, and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Sunday, the fifteenth of June.
I'm believed Simon's I'm Emma Gillespie.
Today we are talking about tax time. Now, there is a whole range of things to think about this time of year. There's your actual tax return, there's the sales at all the stores personal favorite, yes, which is an amazing bonus. But there's also an increase in scams and that is what we are here to talk about today. So why is there a rise in scams when it comes to tax time and what do you need to look out for. We are getting into all of this in it today's podcast, And just a quick note before
we get started. As you heard at the top of this episode is sponsored by payid, but they have had no influence over the content of this episode.
Billy, I can't believe we are here again. It's nearly tax time.
It's our favorite time of year, isn't it.
Well, a favorite time of year if you are a bargain hunter and you're like a sale, favorite time of year if you are good at tax returns, if you like numbers, if you like numbers, and favorite time of year if you happen to be getting a tax return. Yes, less of a favorite time of year if you're bad at received and if you owe money to the tax department. But for anyone who is less familiar with what this all means, what do we need to know?
Okay, so it's tax time because it is the end of the financial year, which is always smack bang in the middle of the calendar year. So it ends on the thirtieth of June, and as of the first of July, we are in a brand new financial year. Now most people will need to lodge a tax return for the financial year that has just been so the well, we are currently still in it, but we're at the very end. So that's the twenty twenty four to twenty five financial year,
and you need to actually do that. We say it's tax time, but tax time actually goes for four months, so you need to lodge your tax return if you are lodging one by the end of October, and that is if you don't have an accountant. If you do have an accountant, then you have a little bit longer to do that. But that's a whole different podcast.
So the end of financial year June thirty, basically, from that point to the end of October, generally speaking, that is your window to lodge your tax return exactly. The Australian Taxation Office.
Yes, but we're.
Talking about scams today and we hear a lot about scams in the media, I suppose, but I'm surprised to hear about a relationship between tax time and scams specifically.
Yes, I feel like scams is one of those things that you don't really care about until you get scammed. And my analogy for this is Emma. You are obviously familiar with Media Watch, which is the ABC's program that comes out every Monday where they kind of assess the week that has been for media and I guess critique what has gone on in the media.
Bit of a fact checking service. Yes, holding all of us journals to account making sure we're speaking truth.
Yes, And their saying is everyone loves us until you're on it. And I've always loved that because it's so accurate, and I feel like scams, it's not really something that you ever think about until it affects you and then you really care about.
Good point, So why do scams increase around tax time?
So it's really because tax time is when most people would be in contact with the Australian Taxation Office, so the ATO or they might expect to be hearing from them, Oh okay, and so scammers will be on the lookout to take advantage of that. And how this often happens is that scammers will send a message impersonating the ATO. When I was doing the research for this, I was like, I swear this has actually happened to me before.
Really this happened to me this week. Really, yes, honestly, And I didn't even know we were going to be talking about this. Oh my god, I got a text and it's like a fake mygo of. You have a message from mygo of regarding your tax return blah blah blah. Obviously I didn't click it. The number wasn't a legitimate number, like it was a scam text, but it's already happening.
Yeah. Well, I received one last year I discovered and it said you have received a secure message about a tax adjustment from the ATO. Review it now at and then it provided a link that word secure. I'm sure when I looked at it, I was like, that kind of looks legitimate.
Yeah, And I think something that scammers take advantage of in this space as well is that I think it's pretty nah rual for people to feel a bit nervous about tax time. You know, if you're new in your career and you haven't done heaps of tax returns in the past, it can feel overwhelming. The ATO can seem
like this kind of big, scary official authority. And so if you get a message, yeah, saying that maybe you've done something wrong or something's changed, or you need to update your details, I think people can often be intimidated into into not thinking and just kind of acting on clicking on something.
Well, you don't want to disappoint the ATO exactly. That's like the one government agency that you cannot disappoint.
Literally, So how do we know if we've received a genuine piece of communication from the ATO, or if a scam is a scam.
So in that example or like the one that you've received this week, I think the first thing that you can do, like is google it, good old Google. Yeah, that is a great first step because often you can actually just copy and paste the text that you received, put it in Google and it will often tell you if it is a scam christ And so that's a great first step. But separate from that, I try to understand how often is it or likely is it that the ATO would ever send you a link like this?
And the ATO says that while they might send you a text or an email asking you to contact them, they will never send an unsolicited message with a link asking you to return personal information or log into their online services. So if you ever receive a text message saying it's from the ATO and it has a link, that is an absolute red flag. They say that they will never do that.
Okay, So this makes a lot of sense when I think of legitimate texts that I've got from my goove through the ATO or whatever, and it will often say like you have a message in your inbox, so like go and log in, Yes, but there are no links. It's just kind of prompting you to independently go through the proper channels to log in.
Yes, so anything from the ATO with a link that is not them that is a scam.
Got it.
Another thing they said is that whilst they do have official social media accounts, they will never use those platforms to ask you to provide payments or any personal information. Okay, which, if you think about it, makes sense. It would be weird if the official ATO instagram M Yes, yep, but that doesn't quite feel like an official way to communicate with Australia.
But we know that scammers are really sophisticated and they can make very compelling fake websites, fake social media accounts. Yes, they can convince people pretty easily that these are real, legitimate platforms.
Yeah, And I think that's the thing that they are becoming much more convincing and they are becoming much more sophisticated, and so that's why it's important to talk about it.
How else does scams show up? What other kind of common scams are we seeing that young people and listeners might be interacting with.
So another one that they have flagged that is quite common from scammers is a tax debt. So, M you were talking about before. With tax time, sometimes you might be eligible for a tax refund, or there are circumstances where you might actually owe money to the ATO, and so that could be considered a tax debt, and that is often what scammers will be using or telling people
they have. So you might get a message claiming that you owe the ATO money and it might give you a fake case reference number or something like that again to make it look more convincing, and often they'll push you to pay immediately, and that is another red flag that if they are urgently requiring payment, it is usually unlikely that you would hear about the debt for the first time in a really urgent manner, like it's something
that you would hear about. You would have a time period or a deadline to pay it by, and then if you go past that, yep, am I making sense? Yeah?
Absolutely. I'm just thinking about a voicemail that I got a few weeks ago as well, realizing wow, I'm scam hotspot over. My nuther must be on the wrong list. But I had a voicemail recently. It was definitely like a robot automated voicemail, and the voice was an American accent, which kind of threw me as well. I thought, like, is the ATO really leaving voicemails with an American robot? Yeah, but it was a kind of like, yeah, you owe
the Taxation Office. I think it was like four thousand dollars or something like respond immediately or risk for the proceedings. And to me, it was clear that it was a scam, but I could completely understand why somebody else might be sucked into that.
And another way that it could be a red flag is if they are requesting payment through unconventional means. So if they're saying you can pay it through crypto, that is another red flag. The ATO with federal governments, no, definitely not So.
How common, Billy, are these types of tax scams? I mean, I think my lived experience might answer some of these questions, But is this happening to everyone else?
I'm actually going to throw it back to you because I want to know how much you think it has increased, because this is actually the perfect time to be talking about it, because the ATO actually just put out a statement earlier this month telling us the percentage by which these scams have increased just in the past year. Can you guess how much.
Okay, well, I'm thinking back to last tax time and I don't think I received any scams.
I love this one person study quality.
Not quantity, and I received two scam communications so far this year. Average it out and say there's been a one hundred percent increase.
That is a great guess, not quite accurate. It's more than that. No, Yes, oh my god, there has been a three hundred increase again just in the past year.
So I should have stuck to my guns. I've had two hundred percentage grace there you go. Three hundred percent in one year is a massive billy. Yes, And I guess really speaks to the sophistic that we've touched on of how much savvy a scammers are kind of.
Getting in their approach.
Clearly this is a much more saturated space and people are thinking outside the box. Ye, But what should people do if they receive a message they're not sure about. Say someone does get a text claiming it's from the ATO. There is a link, maybe there's not a link. Maybe you're too scared to do anything with it.
I think the easiest thing to do is to just go directly to the source and to ask them. So if you get a message claiming to be from the ATO, you can always just call the ATO on the number listed on their website and just ask them directly if they sent you that text. This actually happened to me the other day when I was at the post office and I got a text from them saying you need to pick up this delivery or it hasn't gone to
the right destination, so please call this number. And I just happened to be at the post office for something completely different ye at that time, and I was like, Huh, what a weird text to receive. I'm just going to ask ask the Post Office if this was them. They were able to look it up immediately and they said, no, that's a scam, and it was such a it was great timing there you go. So it was great to
just be able to ask them directly. And I think, especially when it comes to giving over personal information or giving over money or something like that, it is really important to make sure that you're giving it to the right person or company or agency. Going straight to the source, I think is a great solution.
Obviously, you know, we're talking about tax time and we're talking about these ATIO specific scams, but that rule of thumb I think applies across the board. Just generally, it's good to have that curiosity, be skeptical. If something doesn't feel right, it probably isn't. Yes, I also think it's really helpful to engage with scam safety to help other people in your life. And I know my parents would probably have been duped hundreds of time by now if I hadn't told them like, no, that's a scam.
My mum literally told me a story the other week about her being scammed when she went to buy shoes and then yeah, it actually was a company, it didn't exist.
Oh dear, Well, my mom still screenshots, you know, the hey mom text.
Yeah, Like it'll be like, hey boss.
My phone, I'm texting on her friends like what's app me on this numbla blah blah blah. My mom will still screenshot them and be like, I know this is probably a scam, but just checking.
Is this you that? Honestly that's lovely, Like she would never want to miss a text with you exactly.
Too bad if you get scammed. Margaret Billy, thank you so much for explaining that to us. Thanks and thank you so much for listening to this special Sunday bonus episode. We will be back to regular programming tomorrow morning with a Monday Deep Dive, but until then, enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Bye.
Today's podcast was brought to you by pay id. We've covered what sort of scams to look out for during tax time, but there are plenty of others out there too well. You can't beat the feeling of scoring a bargain on an online marketplace. Thanks can turn sour pretty quickly with scams on the rise. That's where payid comes in. It can help protect you from scams and mistaken payments by letting you see and confirm who you're paying before you hit send, so you know exactly where your money's going.
And remember payid will never contact you directly. If you receive messages asking you to send money, to receive money, or to upgrade your account, they're scams. If you or someone you know gets caught up in one, get in touch with your bank straight away. Stay safe out there and share this with your friends. It really helps to ease and c supply. Find out more at paid dot com dot au.
My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda Bungelung Calcotin woman from Gadigol country. The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the Gadigel people and pays respect to all regional and torrest rate island and nations. We pay our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both past and present.