Portuguese citizens targeted as tax authority scam season opens

If you receive messages of this type, confirm the legitimacy directly with your Tax Authority. If this is not the case, delete them without opening them.

Tax season has begun, and the story repeats itself every year: the hunt for scams begins, with new techniques challenging even the most astute of taxpayers.

The new year had barely begun when the tax authorities in Portugal issued warnings about a fraudulent email inviting taxpayers to visit a certain link to receive their IRS refund. In this case, the attempted scam is fairly obvious, especially since it occurs in January – the Tax Authority never refunds taxes before the income tax returns are filed, which only begins in April. And even if this fact isn't enough to raise suspicions, a closer look helps to expose the fraud - the email address from which the email was sent did not end in ".pt", the domain associated with Portugal, but in ".in", registered in India...

In April 2023, for example, an email that circulated all over the country suggested taxpayers to change "access credentials to the Finance portal". Although this would be perfectly plausible at that time of year, it was, in fact, a scam. In August, another email message warned about "discrepancies" in the IRS declaration and urged correction through the sent link. And, three months later, other emails about supposed tax debts of the recipients appeared, which may have led to some clicks on the pages of cybercriminals.

If you receive such messages, confirm with the Tax Authority of your country if they are legitimate. If not, delete them without opening. In these phishing scams - which allow scammers to access your data - just one click is enough to give them access to everything you own.

Did you know?

In one of the fraud attempts, the address through which the email was sent did not end in ".pt", a domain associated with Portugal, but in ".in", registered in India.

About the author: Cláudia Maia, Director of Publications, DECO PROteste

Director of Publications at DECO PROteste since 2015, Cláudia Maia is responsible for the content strategy and defining the editorial guidelines for the website, magazines and books published by this organization. It was here that she trained as a journalist, specializing in legal and financial topics, and accepted the challenge of using the power of stories to change the very history of consumption in Portugal. She is also responsible for the production and distribution of DECO PROteste publications. Externally to the organization, she is a member of the Journalist Professional Card Committee and recently assumed the role of president of the Portuguese Press Association, an entity that represents around 200 press editors in Portugal. Behind her were the Social Communication course at the University of Beira Interior and Jornal de Notícias, where she took her first steps in the world of news.

The original article was published in Portuguese here: https://www.deco.proteste.pt/dinheiro/impostos/opiniao/combate-burla-irs-claudia-maia