Be carefull of "SCAM" emails claiming to be from the ATO

This morning we received a copy of an email the "ATO" had sent a client, as follows: "After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have discovered that you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $210.75 AUD. Kindly complete the tax refund request and allow 6-9 working days to process it."

The ATO will NEVER send you and email requesting you to confirm, update or disclose confidential details via an insecure channel such as email. Nor will they email you about a potential refund so please dont be fooled!!!! If you are unsure please contact us.

Copy of the email below (with client details removed)

Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2012 00:31:01 -0400
To: xxx (clients email address was inserted)

From: xxxxx@communications.net
Subject: Tax Refund - $210.75 AUD

Dear xxx (they inserted the clients email address),

After the last annual calculations of your fiscal activity we have discovered that
you are eligible to receive a tax refund of $210.75 AUD. Kindly complete the tax refund request and allow 6-9 working days to process it.

A refund can be delayed for a variety of reasons. For example submitting invalid
records or applying after the deadline. To access the form for your tax refund,
please visit: www.ato.gov.au/taxpayers/ refundation.html_verify?puser=xxx(client email address was inserted)

Note: For security reasons, we will record your ip-address, the date and time.
Deliberate wrong inputs are criminally pursued and persecuted.

Thank You.
Australian Taxation Office (ATO)