Taking advantage of the tax return period, scammers send emails and SMS notifying refunds or accusing their recipients of tax fraud. A phishing scam that you should not fall for.
Fraudulent SMS campaign, identity theft, fake transfer order scam, false accusations of fraud or tax evasion… Tax services regularly warn Internet users and taxpayers against this real scourge. And there is plenty to do, especially right now! In fact, taxpayers have until June 6 to complete their income tax return for the year 2023. A blessing for scammers, who are taking advantage of this to launch new phishing campaigns by posing as the tax service. Also, the General Directorate of Public Finances (DGFiP) alert about a fraudulent email and SMS campaign, using various stratagems to obtain the personal and banking data of their victims. For example, they can promise false tax refunds following a so-called assessment of the recipient’s tax situation, accuse the taxpayer of tax fraud and threaten legal action in the event of non-payment, or even death. intervention by law enforcement. Just that !
Tax scam 2024: accusations of tax fraud and threats of non-payment
The subject lines of fraudulent emails may vary. One of them, for example, requires “the payment of tax arrears by accusing the recipient of tax fraud with the threat of a bailiff, intervention by the police, heavy fines or even prison time”. To be sure to deceive their victims, scammers do not hesitate to use the official headers of the DGFiP, the impots.gouv.fr site, the Ministry of Finance or even the General Inspectorate of Finance. Some emails go so far as to reproduce false administrative letters with false signatures, false stamps and false identities of public officials.
But it’s not just the emails: SMS messages also claim that fines may be sent to them if they do not regularize their unpaid debts. Taxpayers can thus receive messages such as “FINES.GOUV: please note that you have an unpaid parking fine. To avoid any increase, regularize your situation as quickly as possible using the link below”.
2024 tax scam: how to spot a fraudulent message?
Please note that the tax administration never sends emails redirecting to online forms to obtain a refund or to notify of a tax review. In this type of situation, you must always authenticate in your personal space. Plus, she just never texts. In the event of a tax audit, it always sends a paper letter with acknowledgment of receipt and will never contact you by email. You should therefore definitely not respond to this type of email! To be certain of the identity of the sender, check their email address. Only addresses ending with “@dgfip.finances.gouv.fr” actually belong to the tax administration. Likewise, legitimate French state sites all have the ending “.gouv.fr”. Any other URL should be considered potentially malicious.
If you ever get trapped, contact your bank as quickly as possible and follow the recommendations given by the official prevention website cybermalveillance.gouv.fr. Change your password and contact the tax service at this address. Keep all evidence carefully and file a complaint at the police station. Finally, don’t forget to report the fraudulent message to the following services Signal Spam, Pharosor directly to 33700 if you have been the victim of a phishing attempt by email or SMS.