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Rovee - Tax scam victim's story

telephoneRovee – tax scam victim’s story

There’s a day in June 2015 that Rovee, an immigrant from the Philippines, will never forget. It started like any other day with an early start to see her husband off to work and her three children off to school.

Then the landline in her Perth city apartment rang, with the man claiming to be from the Australian Tax Office and saying she had an unpaid tax debt of more than five thousand dollars. The caller was aggressive and threatening, and challenged Rovee’s claims that her tax returns had been properly prepared by her accountant.

Listen to Rovee talking about the threatening phone calls.

With threats of deportation, arrest and incurring fines, Rovee was forced to go straight to the bank to get cash to pay the fictitious outstanding tax debt and then send it by wire transfer. 

Listen to Rovee talk about being urged to visit the bank.

The $5,690 sent that day was money Rovee and her husband had saved. She was on the phone to the scammers for five hours – it was a nightmare for Rovee who was emotionally distressed at her experience at the hands of these heartless criminals.

Listen to Rovee's advice for others.

If you get a call from someone claiming to be from a Government department demanding immediate payment of money that you owe and you have no prior knowledge of it, be suspicious. Get the officer’s details and any reference numbers and call that Department independently, but don’t use any phone numbers or email addresses supplied by the caller. This will verify if the call is genuine.

No Government department will act in such a threatening or aggressive manner and demand that you wire transfer money immediately.

If in doubt, you can get advice from WA ScamNet at Consumer Protection by calling 1300 30 40 54.