Revenue Board cautions taxpayers against online information theft

KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) on Tuesday cautioned taxpayers against phishing attempts made to induce individuals to reveal personal information, such as bank account numbers and passwords. 

“Various emails are crafted to appear as if they have been sent from a legitimate organisation or known individual,” FBR said in a statement. “The user then may be asked to provide personal information, such as account usernames and passwords, which can further expose them to future compromises.”

During the past few months, FBR has issued several alerts against suspicious emails sent to the taxpayers. The latest guidelines are for taxpayers to prevent information theft.

The FBR said individuals and groups solicit personal information from unsuspecting users by employing social engineering techniques. The revenue body advised the taxpayers against disclosing any information especially related to their bank accounts via these emails and associated links.

“Emails designed to obtain taxpayer’s banking information in lieu of facilitating a refund to the taxpayer or any other activity associated with an individual’s bank account are extremely dangerous with an intent to defraud the individual,” it said.

FBR said if someone receives an e-mail claiming to be one authorised by FBR or directing to an income tax website “do not reply, do not open any attachments; attachments may contain malicious code that will infect taxpayer’s computer.”

“If a taxpayer clicks on links in a suspicious e-mail or phishing website then he should not enter confidential information like bank account, credit card details,” FBR added. The revenue body recommended the taxpayers to use anti-virus software, anti-spyware, and firewall and should keep them updated.

It said any link to any bank is not provided on FBR’s website and FBR would never ask for your bank details and passwords on its homepage.  “Banks always advise their customers against disclosing their password even to bank officials or bank’s genuine websites,” it added.

The apex tax authority further said if someone has become a victim of this phishing attack through using the link sent through above mentioned email they must immediately change the password of the relevant online bank and never share it with anyone.