Police warn of tax refund scam

The police on Wednesday issued an announcement warning of a new scam which is falsely promising tax refunds via text messages.

“If you receive a similar message, ignore it and delete it immediately,” the police’s cybercrime department recommended.

According to the police, the fraudsters send their phishing messages via SMS or email, which are designed to look as if they were sent by the tax department, telling the recipients they were entitled to a tax refund of the sum of €328.81.

In order to claim the refund, recipients should fill in their personal details on a website linked in the message, which eventually leads residents to a fake site to retrieve their personal data and bank details.

The police urged the public to be particularly careful as the scam occurs during the current tax return submission period.

“In the event that any banking data was disclosed to the perpetrators during such a scam, the public should immediately inform their banking institution to avoid unwanted use of their data and available financial balances,” the authorities said.

The authorities urged the public to make sure to always verify sender’s addresses before clicking on any links and recommends using two-factor authorisation for online accounts.

Office for Combating Cyber Crime tel. +35722808200. Email: cybercrime@police.gov.cy