Beware of Income Tax Refund Claim Phishing Emails


I’ve just got a phishing email claiming that I’ve got a lot of money in tax refund and I should click on the link for them to process it.

Damn, Google – Why couldn’t you filter out this spam? It landed right in the inbox. Here’s the email content.

Dear Valued Taxpayer,
We have reviewed your tax fiscal payment for previous months and have resolved that you are qualified to obtain a refund of the sum of xx,xxx.00 INR which is your accumulated tax excesses. Please submit a tax refund request and allow us to process it within 7 days.
To submit a request, CLICK HERE
Thanks for taking the time to learn about our tax refund.It’s one more way Income tax department can make your tax payment experience better.
Endeavor to fill in your Information correctly,to enable us make refund to your account without any delay.
Refund can be delayed for some reasons:

  • Applying after deadline of notification
  • Submitting incorrect account information

Tax Refund Department
Department of revenue,
Ministry of finance, Government of India.

The Link has been suppressed for obvious reasons. Although this email comes from probably a trusted sender “refunds@incometaxindia.in.net”, watch out for the website which actually goes to a domain called as zinuru.org.

The page is a phished website with some of the links pointing to NSDL and webpage which the users can enter the bank details.
image

Beware, although banks have provided additional security measures through SMS Validations, Grid number validation, your common sense about phishing would help you a long way.


12 responses to “Beware of Income Tax Refund Claim Phishing Emails”

  1. Today also I too have received the same mail with same contents.

    Dear Valued Taxpayer,

    We have reviewed your tax fiscal payment for previous months and have resolved that you are qualified to obtain a refund of the sum of 47, 320.00 INR which is your accumulated tax excesses. Please submit a tax refund request and allow us to process it within 7 (seven) days.

    To submit a request, CLICK HERE

    Thanks for taking the time to learn about our tax refund.It's one more way Income tax department can make your tax payment experience better.

    Endeavor to fill in your Information correctly,to enable us make refund to your account without any delay.

    Refund can be delayed for some reasons:

    • Applying after deadline of notification

    • Submitting incorrect account information

    Tax Refund Department

    Department of revenue,

    Ministry of finance, Government of India.

  2. Thank you for the information.i too got same type of mail. my sender email is ” Income Tax Department “.

    Dear Valued Taxpayer,

    Read this message carefully and delete after submssion of refund.

    We have reviewed your tax fiscal payments for previous months and your filed returns online,with this effect we have determined that you are eligible to get a tax refund of INR 40,135.50

    Please CLICK HERE and submit a confirmation refund request.

    NOTE: Refund cannot be made to account owner that submitted invalid account information Example, Typing in letter A instead of G which makes your information incorrect will totally disqualify owner from Tax Refund.We will make an additional investigation with your bank for wrong submission of information and get rid of such account with wrong information because we will take it that it was submitted by a wrong owner.Please also note that refund takes three weeks to get processed and refund to rightful owners account.

    The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT)

  3. Thanks for the information.
    I got the same mail.

    Dear Valued Taxpayer,

    We have reviewed your tax fiscal payment for previous years and have resolved that you are qualified for a refund of the sum of xx,xxx.xx INR which is your accumulated tax excesses. Please submit a tax refund request and allow us to process it within 7(seven) working days.

    To submit a request CLICK HERE

    We appreciate taking the time to learn about our tax refund. It’s one more way Income tax department can make your tax payment experience better.
    Endeavor to fill in your Information correctly,to enable us make refund to your account without any delay.

    Refund can be delayed for some reasons:

    * Applying after deadline of notification.
    * Submitting incorrect account information.

    Tax Refund Department
    Department of revenue,
    Ministry of finance, India.

  4. Subject: Tax Refund Notification .
    From: “Income Tax Department” Wed, 27 Apr 2011 11:05:27
    To: and others
    Cc: recipient list not shown: ;
    Bcc:
    Less | Show full Headers | View blocked images in this message

    Dear Valued Taxpayer,

    We have reviewed your tax fiscal payment for previous years and have resolved that you are qualified for a refund of the sum of 36,120.25 INR which is your accumulated tax excesses. Please submit a tax refund request and allow us to process it within 7(seven) working days.

    To submit a request CLICK HERE

    We appreciate taking the time to learn about our tax refund. It’s one more way Income tax department can make your tax payment experience better.
    Endeavor to fill in your Information correctly,to enable us make refund to your account without any delay.

    Refund can be delayed for some reasons:

    * Applying after deadline of notification.
    * Submitting incorrect account information.

    Tax Refund Department
    Department of revenue,
    Ministry of finance, India.

  5. Hi,

    I have received an identical mail two days back and got suspicious when I saw the refund amount I am eligible for.

    Thanks a lot for helping.

  6. I got an identical mail today , 27th May11 .. Thank you for the information…

    Is cyber Policing on Roll!!!!

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