Woman threatened with jail time in cruel ATO scam for $5,000

A Tasmanian woman almost found herself $5,000 short just before Christmas after receiving a convincing call from a devious scammer claiming to be the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).

Ashlee Carey took to Facebook this week to warn others of the cruel scam that had her believing she would face jail time or a massive fine if she didn’t cough up the money.

The Aussie said she had received an automated phone message from the “ATO” on a Melbourne number urging her to call them straight away as she had apparently been paying her tax wrong for three years.

Upon calling back Ashlee was informed by the scammer that there was a warrant out for her arrest and she must pay $4,987 to ensure she didn’t end up behind bars.

“I received an automated phone message from the ‘ATO’ asking me to call them straight away… it was a Melbourne number… seemed legit,” she explained on the post.

The scammer’s story became all that more convincing when Ashlee received a call from her “accountant” warning her to pay up or face serious charges. Although the call came from the same number as her accountant’s firm, it was in fact another scammer.

With no idea she was speaking to scammers, she began to follow through with their requests.

“I was told all my bank cards and bank accounts were fraudulent and that the only way that I could prove I was actively going to pay back my debt was by going to Target and getting an ATO electronic debit request form,” she said on the post.

“Once I got to Target, the ATO office told me to instead purchase  $1,000 worth of iTunes gift cards.”

Ashlee almost followed through with their commands until a staff member informed her that there was a scam going around involving iTunes cards.

Read more: ‘November is prime time for scammers’: ATO warns Aussies to be on alert

The woman’s warning post has received much attention with many others admitting they had received similar phone calls recently.

“My boss also got a call from John in Melbourne today claiming he was from the ATO,” one person wrote.

“These scammers called me too but they left a message on my message bank. I just hoped it wasn’t real and left it. So glad I didn’t answer,” another added.

Sadly many scams have been doing the round with the ATO warning last month that it is the prime time for scammers.

Assistant Commissioner Kath Anderson said scammers are experts at exploiting vulnerable people and often impersonate tax agents and use aggressive tactics to swindle people out of their money or personal information.

“Our advice is simple – the ATO will never ask you to make a payment into an ATM or via gift or pre-paid cards such as iTunes and Visa cards, or direct credit to be paid to a personal bank account,” she said.

“If you have any doubts about the legitimacy of a call, hang up and call us on 1800 888 540.”

Have you ever received a call like this?