IRD warning customers of new email scam over tax refunds

A new email scam has surfaced over the weekend, and Inland Revenue customers are its target.

Inland Revenue is warning its customers to be on guard, saying the scam is "convincing", offering tax refunds.

"We've received more than 900 reports over the weekend," says Inland Revenue spokesperson Sharon Thompson.

"It looks like the real thing but has some tell-tale mistakes that people can use to tell it's a scam," she says.

"Embedded links can look quite convincing at first glance as "ird.govt.nz" can be included within the address," Thompson explains. "But if you hover over those links, you'll see Inland Revenue is not the destination.

According to details released by Inland Revenue, in this particular scam there is also no personalised greeting, and what is listed as a person's IRD number is a wrong number.

"Importantly, this scam also includes a dollar amount for the bogus refund," Thompson says.

"Inland Revenue does not include dollar amounts in refund e-mails.

Thompson says Inland Revenue is in the process of having the scam taken down, but says the sites can jump back up again quickly.

"We would appreciate customers forward the scam e-mail to phishing@ird.govt.nz when they receive it," she says.