Hyderabad: Cyber crooks are now targeting gullible victims, sending phishing mail in the name of the income-tax department and looting money from them by taking their debit card details to refund some amount. Such emails claim that the IT department needs to refund some amount since the user had paid excess tax.
Two victims in Cyberabad have fallen into the trap and lost thousands of rupees in the last one week. On October 27, a woman software engineer received an email from ref.trxn@incometaxindia.gov.in.
“The email provided a link and said that she had paid excess amount and the IT department would refund the same. The email read, “This is to officially inform you of your tax benefits.
After the conclusion of the account audit exercise on the 24th of October, 2014 by the board of revenue, a comprehensive review of your tax column revealed that you are eligible for a refund of Rs 27,900, which is your tax excesses accumulated over time.
Kindly follow the link below to file a request to have the total sum transferred into your account,” said ACP of Cyber Crime S. Jayaram. “The victim clicked the link which leads to a web page that appears to be of the Income Tax department.
There were columns asking her to fill her account details, pin number, and even One Time Password (OTP). She submitted the details, and clicked submit. In few minutes, she received an SMS alert on her mobile phone that an amount of Rs 45,880 has been deducted from her bank account,”
Later, during the investigation, the IT department informed that they never send such emails. “The culprits have used proxy server and spoofing to send the mails as if the mail is sent from the IT department,” said the ACP.
IT officials said that they already have the account details of users. So, the department never asks for account details. A police official said, a fake website can be spotted by running a search on Google. It always differs from the original website. Sometimes there are spelling errors.
