Advisory on Scam & Fraudulent Activities
Latest scams
Aug 2019
- Scam Email - 'Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore-Refund-Online-Confirmation'
Members of the public are advised to ignore an image of a scam email titled 'Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore-Refund-Online-Confirmation' that has been circulating on WhatsApp. Please do not respond to the email nor further circulate the image.
A screenshot of the scam email is provided below for reference.
There have been reports from several members of the public that they received calls from scammers impersonating IRAS officers. The phone number displayed on the caller ID included 1800 3568300, and the scammer requested for outstanding tax amount to be paid. Members of the public who receive such calls are advised to ignore the instructions given by the caller.
- Scam Email - 'Tax Invoice from Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS)'
An email scam is doing the rounds using IRAS' name, with attachments of 'invoices', to trick people to make payments.
The email address does not end with 'iras.gov.sg' which is a tell-tale sign that it is not an authentic email.
Members of the public are advised to ignore the email and not to click or download the attachments.
A screenshot of the scam email is provided below for reference.
Members of the public are advised to ignore emails that are sent from
mytax@iras.gov.sg with attachment on Corporate Income Tax Return status. The attachment may contain computer virus and you are advised not to click or download it.
Companies can view their Corporate Tax filing status by logging in to
myTax Portal or using the
Corporate Tax Integrated Phone Service.
A screenshot of the scam email is provided below for reference.
Members of the public who receive emails from
iras@iras.com with the subject heading "Update Your Tax Information." are advised not to download the document attached in the email.
A screenshot of the scam email is provided below for reference.
There have been reports from several members of the public that they received calls from scammers impersonating IRAS officers. The phone numbers displayed on the caller ID included 97812000 and 63568387, and several of the calls involved requesting of credit card information and tax refunds.
IRAS does not request credit card details by phone. Members of the public who receive such calls are advised to ignore the instructions given by the caller. Those who have been affected by the scam are advised to lodge police reports.
A scam email that mimics IRAS email address ending with "@iras.gov.sg" with the subject heading "Your IRAS 2018 Tax Report!!!" has been circulating to members of the public. Please ignore and do not download the attachment in the email.
A screenshot of the scam email is provided below for reference.
Members of the public who receive emails with the subject heading “Your tax records and open statements December 2018: The money for the state budget is also your money!” are advised not to click on any link or download the attachment in the email.
A screenshot of the scam email is provided below for reference.
There have been reports from members of the public that they have received scam calls with automated voice messages, claiming to be calling on behalf of IRAS regarding investigations on a fraudulent case. The caller would also request for a return call. The phone number displayed on the caller ID include '3108 0946'.
IRAS would like to advise that it does not use automated messaging systems to contact members of the public for such purposes. Please ignore such calls and the caller's instructions. Members of the public who have received such calls are advised to lodge a police report.
Members of the public who receive emails with the subject heading "Update Your Tax Information." are advised not to download the document attached in the email.
A screenshot of the scam email is provided below for reference.
Members of the public who receive emails with the subject heading "VALIDATE YOUR TAX INFORMATION" are advised not to click on any link or download the PDF attachment in the email.
A screenshot of the scam email is provided below for reference.
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There have been reports from members of the public that they have received calls from scammers impersonating as IRAS officers, requesting them to provide their credit card numbers to get a tax refund. The phone numbers displayed on the caller ID included '91835521' and '63562144'.
IRAS does not request credit card details by phone. Members of the public who receive such calls are advised to ignore the instructions given by the caller. Those who have been affected by the scam are advised to lodge police reports.
Members of the public who receive emails with the subject heading "TAX INFORMATION UPDATE" are advised not to download the PDF attachment and provide your personal information.
A screenshot of the scam email is provided below for reference.
There have been reports from members of the public that they have received suspicious calls from persons claiming to be IRAS officers, asking them to pay their outstanding taxes immediately via an ATM bank transfer to an unknown account. The phone number displayed on the caller IDs included IRAS' Individual Income Tax helpline “63568300”.
IRAS does not make telephone calls asking taxpayers to transfer money to third party's bank account. Members of the public who receive such calls are advised to ignore the instructions given by the caller and are encouraged to lodge police reports if they have fallen victim to such frauds.
If you receive any other suspicious phone calls, we advise that you request the caller’s full name, telephone number and department, and validate this through our QSM helpline at 1800 356 8225.
Past Scams and Fraudulent Correspondence (347KB, PDF)
There have been reported cases of individuals receiving emails, letters, Short Message Services (SMS), or phone calls purportedly from IRAS, requesting you to do one or more of the following:
- Open an email link or file attachment to review your income or tax statement;
- Transfer a sum of money, supposedly for tax purposes, to accounts belonging to named individuals (usually an overseas account); and/or
- Pay sums of money to named individuals (usually a party not residing in Singapore) before an inheritance/estate of a deceased party is released.
- Provide your bank account numbers to claim tax refunds, enjoy cash rewards, or pay outstanding tax bills; and/or
- Provide confidential personal information such as personal particulars, personal identification numbers, passwords and bank account numbers, either by completing a form on a website or to someone who impersonates as IRAS staff.
For your own interest, please be extra careful when you receive unsolicited emails, letters, SMSes, phone calls, online chats or all other forms of communication asking you to provide confidential or personal information. Under no circumstances should you give personal information including credit card or banking details to third parties via email, letter, SMS or phone.
Important Note:
- Lately, scam emails that mimic IRAS’ email address ending with “
@iras.gov.sg” have been sent to some members of the public. Certain parts of the email details have been changed by the scammers to make them appear as if the email was sent by IRAS. Such scam emails usually carry a file attachment requesting the recipients to open it. You are advised not to click on any link or open any attachment in the email as it may contain computer virus.
- IRAS does not send out official emails from personal email accounts such as Hotmail, Gmail, or other unfamiliar email domains. IRAS’ email replies are usually signed off with an officer's name, designation and contact information. IRAS also does not send out confidential documents such as tax return forms, notices of assessment, refund letters or other tax statements through unsecured emails. Confidential documents are deposited in the secured tax portal at mytax.iras.gov.sg. Taxpayers may log in to the portal using their SingPass to retrieve their tax statements or e-File their tax returns via mytax.iras.gov.sg.
- IRAS will not ask you to provide your confidential personal details through emails. We encourage you to use
myTax Mail to correspond with IRAS. If your enquiry contains confidential information, we will respond to you via myTax Mail.
- IRAS officers will not call you outside of our helpline operating hours (Mondays to Fridays: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.). If you receive any suspicious phone calls, we advise that you request the caller’s full name, telephone number and department, and validate this through our QSM helpline at 1800 356 8225.
- For payments to IRAS made via Internet Banking, DBS Paylah!, ATM Bill Payment and AXS Mobile and Internet, you have to select ‘IRAS’ from the list of payees.
- When you make a cheque payment for tax, it must only be made payable to one of the relevant payees, as given below :
- Comptroller of Income Tax
- Comptroller of Goods & Services Tax
- Comptroller of Property Tax
- Commissioner of Stamp Duties
- Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore
How to recognise scams
Here are some tips to recognise a scam:
- Promises of money for little or no effort
- Deals that sound too good to be true
- Peculiar email addresses and website URLs
How to report a scam
Anyone who has received a suspicious email, letter, SMS or phone call purportedly from the Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) should immediately contact IRAS to verify the authenticity of such request.
Do not respond to them or click on any hyperlink in the email. In the case of suspicious phone calls, you should request for the caller’s full name, telephone number and department and validate this through our QSM helpline at 1800 356 8225.
If you suspect that you have responded to a phishing scam with personal or financial information, you are advised to:
- lodge a police report;
- change the passwords or PINs on all your online accounts; and
- contact your banks to stop any transactions.