A woman who was tricked out of thousands after she received a fake call from somebody pretending to be from the tax office has spoken out about how you can avoid the scam.
Mona Jafari was convinced she had received a call from the Australian Tax Office.
The IT specialist said she was left a voicemail claiming she owed a huge tax debt and her passport had been frozen.
Mona Jafari (pictured) was convinced she had received a call from the Australian Tax Office and her passport had be frozen
‘This is Edward Hoffman, the very second you receive this message just give me a call back,’ the voicemail said.
The call suggested a deal could be struck – if she paid $3,000 immediately, everything would be fine.
‘I said to myself, “wow I feel like a criminal”,’ she told Seven News.
Ms Jafari was quick to follow the prompts lead by the voicemail and transferred across the large sum of money.
Ms Jafari said the debt would be cleared if she paid $3000 immediately to a particular account linked with the ‘Australian Tax Office’
It wasn’t until the scammer called back claiming she needed to transfer more, it clicked something was wrong.
After being fooled by the fraudsters, Ms Jafari has warned others to just hang up the phone.
‘Hang up the phone and find the number and call back,’ Ms Jafari said.
After being fooled by the fraudsters, Ms Jafari has warned others to just hang up the phone and not hand out any personal details
Latest figures have suggested each successful scam claims $6500.
While others have lost over a million to the fraudsters.
Successful scammers have been known to hide behind a trusted source such as the Australian Tax Office.
Last year Australian’s lost $340 million to scammers, $40 million more than 2016.
According to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission investment scams are the most effective claiming more than $64 million.
Dating and romance scams come second at $42 million.
Experts advise to never give out personal information, financial bank account information or credit card information.