July 2, 2015
South Burnett residents have been warned to be wary of telephone callers claiming to be from the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
Officer-in-charge of Kingaroy police, Senior Sergeant Duane Frank, said a number of Kingaroy residents have reported that they had received phone calls recently from callers who claimed the ATO was owed money.
The callers were saying that unless a payment was made immediately, police would be contacted and the resident would be arrested.
Snr Sgt Frank said the calls were a scam.
“The telephone number the callers supply does not go back anywhere,” he said.
He said this was not the way the ATO dealt with taxation matters, and State police did not arrest people for unpaid taxes.
He said the scammers were obviously working their way through Kingaroy telephone numbers.
“If people have any doubts about a caller, they should take their details and call them back,” Snr Sgt Frank said.
“It is important to remember, don’t provide your bank details or credit card details over the telephone.”
Another common scam reported recently were emails from a “friend” claiming to be stuck overseas, saying they needed money sent immediately. In these cases, scammers have hacked an email account.
Snr Sgt Frank said people should check the ScamWatch website where a lot of the most common scams were explained.
