FBR Warns Taxpayers about Scam Emails

Dawn.com reported on 3rd September, 2015 stating that the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has advised Pakistani taxpayers to avoid replying to spam emails.

Especially, the Federal Board of Revenue (more commonly known by its initials as FBR) is the semi-autonomous and supreme federal agency of Pakistan which is responsible for auditing, imposing and collecting revenue for the Pakistan government.

Dawn.com published news on 3rd September, 2015 quoting a statement by Shahid Husain Asad, Official Spokesperson of FBR, as: "It has been brought to the observance of the board that some taxpayers have got emails apparently sent to them by the FBR offices."

The email notifications are being delivered from efbr_system@news-letters-4u.com that is not an authorized address email of FBR. He added that all such emails delivered from this account address may be rejected and should not be treated as email from FBR.

Taxpaying individuals are also apparently receiving notifications about Active Taxpayers List (ATL) where the email notifications tells the taxpaying individuals to avail last chance to return their taxes via a bogus link enclosed in the email.

The Spokesman also said: "This is a phishing email leading to identity pilfering and exploitation of online financial networks to steal money of innocent people. All taxpayers and common public are requested not to believe such email notifications and should never disclose their bank account information, account passwords and other critical details."

Taxpayers and the general common are also cautioned to validate the official domain of FBR www.fbr.gov.pk always in the address bar of the browser to evade such phishing attack.

Unfortunately, it is due to scam email campaigns of the above kind which is leading to continuous increase in spam all over the Internet which has been endorsed by several prominent security researchers and security experts.

Moreover, FBR of Pakistan is not the only taxing agency which is presently warning taxpayers about tax-themed scam emails because similar reports pertaining to scam emails have also been reported from other parts of the world such as HMRC of Britain, IRS of US, CRA of Canada and the Commissioner of Revenue in Ireland along with others.

» SPAMfighter News - 9/16/2015