Although tax time 2018 is over, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) has warned taxpayers to remain on high alert for tax scams. Assistant Commissioner Kath Anderson has said scammers are growing increasingly sophisticated and hope to exploit vulnerable people, often using aggressive tactics to swindle people out of their money or personal information. The ATO has also noticed an increasing trend of scammers demanding tax payments through Bitcoin ATMs.

People should be wary if someone contacts them demanding payment of a tax debt that they didn’t know they owed. The ATO’s advice (and ours) is simple: you will never be asked by the ATO to make a payment into an ATM or via gift or pre-paid cards such as iTunes and Visa cards, or asked for direct credit to be paid to a personal bank account.