A tax refund notification from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) is actually a new scam that the public has been sharing on social media to raise awareness.
“New scam,” wrote a member of the Complaint Singapore Facebook group on Thursday (November 3), including a screenshot of a message alert from IRAS.
The message reads: “Tax 2022, following the latest annual calculations of your tax activity we have determined that you are entitled to a tax refund: 450 SGD. To request your refund, please enter your information by clicking on the link below…”
The message includes a disclaimer regarding possible refund delays due to invalid information submitted.
The notification was signed “2022, Government of Singapore”.
Members of the online community found humor in the message, urging scammers to proofread their messages first before sending them.
“You should check for typos first before even thinking about cheating on someone,” said Facebook user Rita Goh.
Meanwhile, others pointed out that refunds like this are highly unlikely.
“They know it’s a scam when they say the government’s IRAS will refund you because they never do. They will only say that the amount will be deducted from your income tax next year,” explained Facebook user Adam Ali.
It appears others have also received the same message, urging the public to exercise caution.
A similar phishing scam was publicly highlighted a few months ago by scammers posing as the national water authority PUB.
The email also contained the misspelled word “refund,” which prompted comments from netizens that the bad spelling was a sure sign of the scam. /TISG
Netizen warns of “PUB” refund scam, misspelling is the sure sign
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