News No.     :  5/2009

Date             :  19 January 2009

Subject        :  Beware of tax refund fraud through ATM and donations in various forms.

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                         There have been groups of criminals claiming to be revenue officers making phone calls or sending text messages to taxpayers asking them for personal information to be used in future fraud.

                         Even though actions have been taken to curb such scams but the groups of criminals who are still at large continue to cause further damages to the public. There are mainly 2 methods of crime:

                         1) Tax refund fraud - The criminals use 13 digits telephone numbers or automatic telephone that does not show personal identity and claim to be revenue officers. They inform taxpayers to collect their tax refund by cheque or luring the victims to make transfer to the criminals’ accounts via ATMs.

                         2) Donation fraud - The criminals use the Revenue Department’s name to ask for donation for charitable organizations or help save lives of cattle from the slaughter house. This is done by handing out leaflets or conducting campaign under the name of the Revenue Department to lure donors.

                         In this case, the Revenue Department cooperated with Mae Ping police officers which led to the capture of 7 criminals and eventually imprisonment of 3 criminals. Unfortunately we could not pursue legal action against the other 4 criminals due to the lack of concrete evidence. Thus, the return of such actions is believed to be done by this same group. The Revenue Department and the Police Department are now monitoring this movement.

                         Mr. Vinai Vittavasgarnvej, Director-General of the Revenue Department announced that “The Revenue Department has no policy to call taxpayers and ask for further personal information because the Revenue Department already has taxpayer’s information in its database. Especially, for tax refund case the Revenue Department will print out cheque bearing the taxpayer’s name and send it directly to the taxpayer’s address. The Revenue Department neither makes any transfer through ATMs nor asks for donations, grants any rights to charitable organizations to accept donations on behalf of the Revenue Department. Should anyone come across such activity, please call RD Call Centre or the nearest Revenue Office.”