Exposing the fraudulent tactics of individuals impersonating 'tax officials'.

Mr. An Tien Hung (30 years old, Hanoi ) said that two weeks ago, he received a call from the phone number 0578.98.1xxx.

On the other end of the line, the caller, claiming to be an employee of the Cau Giay Tax Department, informed Mr. Hung that he was eligible for a personal income tax refund and requested that he come to the Tax Department at 8:00 AM the following day to complete the refund procedures.

This person said that if Mr. Hung was too busy to come, or wanted to complete the procedure quickly and receive the money online, he should contact a Zalo account named T. to complete the process.

Exposing the fraudulent scheme of individuals impersonating tax officials (Figure 1) — Illustrative image. (Source: QH)

Mr. Hung found it strange because he wasn't subject to personal income tax, as his total income was less than 11 million VND per month. Therefore, a tax refund was impossible.

Therefore, Mr. Hung proactively contacted the company's accountant and the Cau Giay Tax Department to clarify whether he was eligible for a tax refund. However, both the company and the tax authorities confirmed that Mr. Hung's case was not eligible for a tax refund.

Knowing this was a scam, Mr. Hung proactively contacted a person named T., who requested that Mr. Hung provide his personal identity card, personal tax identification number, and register an account on an unknown website.

"However, when I told them I had contacted the company about whether I would get a tax refund, they blocked my Zalo account and phone number, so I couldn't contact them," Mr. Hung said.

Similarly, two weeks ago, Ms. Hoang Bich (Hanoi) also received a call from someone claiming to be a tax official, demanding that she pay her personal income tax as required. If she did not pay, the police would summon her for questioning on charges of tax evasion.

Ms. Bich shared: "This person used a threatening tone, and elderly or uninformed people are easily deceived."

Regarding this issue, the Ministry of Finance revealed that recently there have been instances of people impersonating tax officials on the internet.

The Ministry of Finance stated that, along with the rapid development of information technology, the impersonation of tax authorities on the internet has recently increased, with the aim of defrauding and stealing money from citizens and businesses, using increasingly sophisticated methods and tactics.

To warn citizens and businesses about the tricks and schemes of impersonating tax authorities to commit fraud and seize assets, the tax sector has implemented a comprehensive set of widespread communication measures through various mass media channels (especially from July 15th to the present).

At the same time, the Ministry of Finance has directed the implementation of communication work throughout the entire tax system.

Specifically, on July 20, 2023, the General Department of Taxation issued công văn (official letter) No. 3041/TCT-CNTT to the Tax Departments of provinces and centrally-administered cities, directing them to organize and implement the "Month of Action to Raise Awareness on Identifying and Preventing Online Fraud" campaign.

On August 3, 2023, the General Department of Taxation developed a set of documents containing information on preventing and combating impersonation of tax authorities online and sent them to news agencies and provincial and city tax departments to promote awareness through mass media.

Meanwhile, according to the police, using sophisticated tactics and pre-planned scenarios, fraudsters impersonating tax officials often conceal their activities by using personal Zalo profile pictures of officials in tax agency uniforms to contact victims, creating a facade to gain their absolute trust.

At the same time, the perpetrators often use the weekend (Saturday or Sunday) to contact victims because during this time banks stop accepting requests to freeze users' accounts; simultaneously, the perpetrators will steal assets by withdrawing money from the victim's bank account between 1 and 2 AM, while the victim is sound asleep.

The police are warning that nowadays, criminals not only impersonate tax officials but also police officers, customs officials, bankers, or other state law enforcement agencies… to instruct victims to perform actions on their phones in order to defraud them of their assets.

To proactively prevent fraud and protect your assets, the police recommend that all citizens raise their awareness and absolutely not listen to or follow any instructions from anyone over the phone.

For procedures falling under the jurisdiction of state agencies, all work is conducted in person at the agency's headquarters or through written notification from the competent authority; online work via telephone is absolutely prohibited, so citizens should take note…

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