Iras warns public about e-mail and WhatsApp scam
An e-mail purportedly from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (Iras) asking the public to disclose their credit card details is a hoax, said the agency.
Called the 'Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore-Refund-Online-Confirmation', the e-mail, using Iras' logo, has been making the rounds.
It tells recipients they are entitled to receive a tax refund of $236.51.
From the screenshot, users are expected to submit a tax refund request which will take two to five days to process.
This is followed by clicking a link which directs them to key in their credit card information.
Yesterday, Iras confirmed on its website that the e-mail is not authentic.
The advisory said: "Members of the public are advised to ignore an image of a scam that has been circulating on WhatsApp. Please do not respond to the e-mail nor further circulate the image."
The New Paper understands Iras' website and Facebook page are frequently updated with advisories to alert members of the public to similar fraudulent e-mails and scams.
According to its website, there were also cases where scammers impersonated Iras officers to manipulate victims into making illegitimate payments or requests.
Members of the public who receive such calls are advised to ignore instructions given by the caller.
Members of the public may visit www.iras.gov.sg for tips to recognise similar scams.
There may be promises of money with little to no effort, poor spelling and grammatical errors, deals that sound too good to be true and suspicious-looking e-mail addresses and website URLs.
An e-mail address which does not end with iras.gov.sg is a tell-tale sign of a fake.
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