According to DataCenter Services of the Netherlands Tax Authority, over the past month they have received more than 40 requests from people who were deceived by receiving fake reminders on behalf of the tax authorities.
We are talking about letters or text messages in which scammers introduce themselves to the tax authorities. “We usually receive around 2000 reports per week, but during the corona crisis the number of reports jumped to 10 to 000 per week,” says Henk Hendricks, director of DataCenter Services.
In the text of such messages (SMS and email), the recipient is usually asked to pay the tax debt, and in case of non-payment, they are threatened by the court.
In this regard, Mr. Hendricks once again draws the attention of taxpayers that the IRS NEVER sends such reminders by e-mail or in the form of text messages. Therefore, any such message sent allegedly on behalf of the tax office is always fake.
Another sign that you have received a fake: the sender's name is deliberately incorrect or changed to a number.
What if you receive such a fake email or text message?
IRS recommends taking a screenshot of such a letter, and then reporting it to the police, anti-fraud support or tax office. If you have been a victim of phishing, contact your bank as soon as possible to try and stop the payment.
The tax inspectorate is actively fighting phishing: on the basis of reports, bank account and phone numbers of fraudsters are blocked.
Such situations occur up to several tens of thousands of times a year, and to bring fraudsters to justice. The Tax Office cooperates in this area with FIOD (Fiscal Information and Investigation Service).
Also on the IRS website, you can read additional tips on preventing fraud, such as how to check the bank account numbers used by the service before sending money.
Be careful and do not fall for the tricks of scammers.
Publication Date: 12.06.2020
