Bob:
Yesterday I received a letter, allegedly from the tax office, demanding to pay tax dues. The letter is very similar to the original one, it contains a QR code for entering data from a smartphone. The first thing that caught my eye was the unusually high tax levy. When trying to pay using a QR code, the amount turned out to be significantly (several times) higher.
Having interrupted the operation, I went to the website of the tax service, entered my individual tax number and found out that the amount required for payment is several times less than the amount indicated in the text of the letter, not to mention the amount that should have been debited after entering the QR code.
Financial Culture Expert:
This is an example of fraud on behalf of an official organization. Most likely, the criminals gained access to the database of taxpayers and began to send letters under the guise of the Federal Tax Service (FTS) in order to defraud the money.
This is not the first time fraudsters have tried to make money off taxpayers, disguising themselves as the Federal Tax Service. They have already sent SMS and e-mails on behalf of the Service with the demand to "pay taxes". Now the attackers have switched to forging paper letters.
If Bob had paid the “tax” from a fake letter, the money would have gone to the scammers' account.
Before paying for any mailbox receipts, you should carefully study them. Carefully check the details and the amount of the payment. If you have any questions, find on the official website the contacts of the organization that sent you the payment order, and check the information with the specialists.
You can see what taxes the FTS has charged you in the taxpayer's personal account on its official website or on the Public Services Portal. There you can online check the amount of your taxes and debts and pay them off immediately.
For more information on what schemes are used by criminals to defraud money, see the article "How to protect yourself and your loved ones from financial fraud".
Yesterday I received a letter, allegedly from the tax office, demanding to pay tax dues. The letter is very similar to the original one, it contains a QR code for entering data from a smartphone. The first thing that caught my eye was the unusually high tax levy. When trying to pay using a QR code, the amount turned out to be significantly (several times) higher.
Having interrupted the operation, I went to the website of the tax service, entered my individual tax number and found out that the amount required for payment is several times less than the amount indicated in the text of the letter, not to mention the amount that should have been debited after entering the QR code.
Financial Culture Expert:
This is an example of fraud on behalf of an official organization. Most likely, the criminals gained access to the database of taxpayers and began to send letters under the guise of the Federal Tax Service (FTS) in order to defraud the money.
This is not the first time fraudsters have tried to make money off taxpayers, disguising themselves as the Federal Tax Service. They have already sent SMS and e-mails on behalf of the Service with the demand to "pay taxes". Now the attackers have switched to forging paper letters.
If Bob had paid the “tax” from a fake letter, the money would have gone to the scammers' account.
Before paying for any mailbox receipts, you should carefully study them. Carefully check the details and the amount of the payment. If you have any questions, find on the official website the contacts of the organization that sent you the payment order, and check the information with the specialists.
You can see what taxes the FTS has charged you in the taxpayer's personal account on its official website or on the Public Services Portal. There you can online check the amount of your taxes and debts and pay them off immediately.
For more information on what schemes are used by criminals to defraud money, see the article "How to protect yourself and your loved ones from financial fraud".
