Beware of bitcoin fake tax debts scam

The Australian Taxation Office is calling on accountants and tax agents to help combat fake tax debt scams involving cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

Accountants and tax agents are very good at telling clients what to do, but sometimes their most valuable advice comes from convincing clients to not do something.

A case in point is the Australian Taxation Office’s (ATO) plea for people to beware of scammers impersonating the ATO and demanding bitcoin as a form of payment for fake tax debts.

Your clients would be too clever to fall for that trick, right? Well, perhaps not.

“So far, we have seen over A$98,000 paid in bitcoin to scammers claiming fake ATO debts, usually via bitcoin ATM machines,” says the ATO’s assistant commissioner Kath Anderson.

Hang up on tax bitcoin scammers

This has prompted the ATO to work with tax and financial advisers to warn people not to get sucked in by callers threatening police or legal…