The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is assuring Aussies that its systems are “secure, resilient and have not been compromised”. A number of taxpayers have come forward sharing their accounts have been hijacked and bogus tax returns have been made in their name.

The ATO has denied being “hacked” and said the “unusual activity” on people’s ATO accounts was likely related to identity theft. It said it would activate “stringent security measures” if it suspects a taxpayer has had their identity compromised.

The safety of taxpayers’ information is of the utmost importance to us, and the ATO continues to remain vigilant for new and emerging cyber threats,” the ATO said.

“Identity information can be compromised in a variety of ways, including requests for information by malicious actors, phishing emails, large-scale data breaches, and individual device or home network hacking.”

Unsuspecting taxpayers and their accountants have discovered hackers have infiltrated their myGov accounts, filed fake tax returns on their behalf and redirected refunds to their own bank accounts.

While the ATO has not confirmed how many Australians have been impacted, the money that has been paid out and recouped, or whether any arrests have been made, a number of Aussies have flagged the issue.

Has this happened to you? Contact tamika.seeto@yahooinc.com to share your story

Perth woman Kate Quinn said she found out hackers had filed a fraudulent tax return in her name earlier this year.

Her accountant went to prepare her tax return and found they were no longer authorised to manage her tax affairs.

They found that an $8,000 tax return had already been lodged for her for the last financial year. Her linked bank account details had also been changed.

Quinn said it could take just seconds for the fraud to happen.

“They hack in, they untick ‘notify me or notify my tax agent’ and change the bank account details,” she told The Australian.

“[The ATO officer] said it probably takes all of 10 to 15 seconds [to] change the bank account details and the money’s gone, and the case is closed and no one’s notified.”

Melbourne accountant Adrian Raftery also reported a similar experience with one of his clients, with hackers successfully filing a new tax return and amending the previous year’s return to get more than $14,000 in fraudulent returns.

The ATO said it would work with taxpayers to fix their accounts and remediate to its “true and genuine position”. It would then work to recover the money.

Aussies urged to ‘make it harder’ for fraudsters

The ATO has urged Aussies to strengthen their defences.

“The ATO continues to encourage individuals to use myID when interacting with the ATO’s online services and to set up to the highest identity strength where possible to make it harder for fraudsters to exploit their identities,” it said.

myID, previously myGovID, is the government’s digital identity app and a way Aussies can prove their identity when signing into online government services.

The ATO has also urged Aussies to “be wary” of scam emails, phone calls and text messages claiming to be from it, particularly around tax time.

“The ATO may use SMS or email to ask taxpayers to contact us, but will never send an unsolicited message containing a hyperlink to log on to online services,” it said.

“Always access ATO services directly by typing ato.gov.au or my.gov.au into your browser.”

The ATO has urged Aussies who have had their information compromised to contact it immediately on 1800 008 540, plus contact their tax agent if it has impacted their tax affairs.

This article originally appeared on Yahoo Finance AU at

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/ato-warning-as-hackers-steal-14000-in-tax-returns-be-wary-235742016.html