IRAS Warns S’poreans About New Email Scam Being Reshared On WhatsApp That Promises “Tax Refunds”

Scam Emails Pretending To Be IRAS Resurfacing, IRAS Says Don’t Circulate Emails

As tax season approaches us, scammers are also modifying their methods to suit the times. Scammers are sending emails claiming to be from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS).

IRAS warns members of the public not to fall prey to these scammers by responding to them or by sharing the image which may lead others to think that the refund is legitimate.

Claims contacted party can receive money

These IRAS scam emails previously appeared in August this year, according to IRAS’ Facebook post. IRAS says images of the scam email were “re-circulating on WhatsApp”.

The scam emails claim that the contacted party is eligible to receive a tax refund worth $236.51. To get the money, one needs to “download and fill the tax reform form”.

Source

After doing so, the scammers will ‘process’ the form within 2 to 5 days. However, there will be ‘delays’ if they do not “[submit] invalid records or [apply] over the deadline”.

Do not respond to scam emails

If you see a scam email titled “Inland Revenue Authority Singapore-Refund-Online-Confirmation”, ignore it.

Here are some of IRAS’ tips on how to identify if something is official IRAS business:

• Official IRAS emails do not use personal email accounts like Hotmail, Gmail or non-official email domains
• IRAS will not ask for confidential personal details through the phone or request for a payment to be made to a 3rd party’s bank account
• When in doubt, check with IRAS so they can verify if it is true

Please do not share images of any scam emails or reply to the emails too.

Featured image adapted from IRAS and Facebook.