Revenue Minister gets scam tax refund email

Foreign scammers might have over-stepped the mark with the latest target of their tax refund email scams, says Revenue Minister Peter Dunne.

Mr Dunne and members of his staff received emails today telling them they had tax refunds waiting for them and only had to click on the given link and fill out a claim form to get them.

“Needless to say, I am not clicking on the link or filling in any form and I can only repeat Inland Revenue’s regular warnings on such email requests.

“People should be very careful about giving out their IRD number and any other personal details.

“There are emails circulating that attempt to trick recipients into divulging personal information. These emails are known as phishing emails.

“No one should click on such a link or reply to such an email, fitting this description.

“Inland Revenue would never send you a hyperlink in an email. Delete the email from your inbox and trash folders," Mr Dunne said.

He said it was notoriously difficult to track down those behind such scam emails and websites.

“So it is likely either Nigerian scammers or Labour trying to add to its email databases."