Scammers steal over $800,000 during November

The ATO is warning taxpayers to be on high alert to scammers, with over $800,000 reportedly lost during November.

Assistant Commissioner Kath Anderson said over the last month, the ATO has seen an increase in scam phone calls, especially those using software that resembles a legitimate phone number to disguise the caller's true identity.

"The ATO does not project our numbers using caller ID. You can be confident that if there is a number displayed in your caller ID, it isn't the ATO," Ms Anderson said.

According to Ms Anderson, the ATO received more than 37,000 reports of scams attempts in November alone, with one elderly person losing more than $236,000 to scammers between June and November this year.

Ms Anderson urged people to be aware of scammers pretending to be the ATO. "Taxpayers should be wary of any phone call, text message, email or letter about a tax refund or debt, especially if you weren't expecting it," she said.

Ms Anderson said while the ATO regularly contacts taxpayers by phone, email and SMS, there are some tell-tale signs that it isn't the ATO. The ATO will not:

"If you suspect that you have been contacted by a scammer, you should contact our call centre. It's OK to hang up and phone us on   1800 008 540   to check if the call was legitimate or to report a scam," Ms Anderson said.

"While phone scams are the most common at the moment, scammers are constantly changing tactics. Taxpayers should still beware of unsolicited emails and SMS, with more than 6000 people handing over their personal or financial information to scammers since July this year.

"Australians play an important role in stopping scammer activity by reporting them to our scam line. Your reports help us to get an accurate picture of what is happening with the current scams, which ultimately helps protect the Australian community."

The ATO's dedicated scam reporting line is   1800 008 540 .

To see ATO latest alerts and for more information visit   ato.gov.au/scams.