Impersonating Ha Tinh tax officials to defraud newly established businesses and enterprises

Taking advantage of information about newly established businesses and business households made public on the national information portal, scammers impersonated officials of the Ha Tinh Provincial Tax Department to appropriate property.

In June 2023, Long Hai Trading - Service Company Limited (Thach Xuan Commune, Thach Ha) was established with the registered business of distributing Heineken beer consumer goods in Ha Tinh province. As soon as the tax code was issued, this enterprise received a call claiming to be an officer of the Ha Tinh Provincial Tax Department, requesting the enterprise to appear to declare taxes or to support the enterprise via Zalo.

Long Hai Trading - Service Company Limited (Thach Ha) specializes in distributing Heineken beer consumer goods in Ha Tinh province.

Mr. Ho Sy Long - Director of Long Hai Trading - Service Company Limited said: “They called many times, the avatar on zalo is a tax officer wearing the industry uniform, so at first I thought it was real. The most recent time was on July 29, they suggested using an Android phone to guide the installation of software to support tax incentives for newly established businesses. At this time, I began to have doubts and learned about online fraud tricks. Being cautious, I went to the Tax Department of Ha Tinh province to ask and was confirmed that there was no such thing as a tax officer guiding the installation of software to support tax incentives online. Luckily, I discovered it in time, otherwise if I believed the scammer and followed the instructions, the consequences would have been unpredictable.”

Text message impersonating an officer of the Tax Department of Ha Tinh province sent to Long Hai Trading - Service Company Limited (Thach Ha)

Not only enterprises, recently, newly established business households and households changing their business forms in Ha Tinh province have also received many calls from people pretending to be tax officials to commit online fraud with extremely sophisticated tricks.

Recently, Le Thi H. (Huong Khe town) converted her business from stationery business to consumer goods business. As soon as she successfully registered for the conversion, Ms. H. received a call asking her to attend a training course at the Ha Tinh Provincial Tax Department, otherwise her business license would be revoked.

To participate in the training, the subject required a fee of 145,000 VND to buy documents. “I was cautious so I called the Tax Department officer in Huong Khe – Vu Quang area directly to ask for information and avoid... the scam trap. However, some other businesses were not as lucky as me, because they were gullible and were scammed. It is worth mentioning that the subjects read the information of the facility fluently so many people were not vigilant” – said Ms. Le Thi H. in Huong Khe town.

Faced with the situation of some subjects impersonating tax authorities, using the name of Ha Tinh Provincial Tax Department to make profits, recently, Ha Tinh Provincial Tax Department has issued notices on the industry's website, Facebook page, Zalo to warn taxpayers to be vigilant against the trick of impersonating tax officials to call, fax to provide links and instructions for installing software, applications; impersonating tax authorities to appropriate bank account information, assets, and appropriate taxpayers' money...

The leader of the Ha Tinh Provincial Tax Department affirmed that the tax agency has no policy, nor does it send officials to make phone calls or faxes to provide links and instructions for taxpayers to install software and applications. All documents, materials, and application software are provided free of charge by the tax agency and are fully posted on the tax industry's website at: https://gdt.gov.vn; all training programs of the tax agency are organized free of charge and invitations will be sent to taxpayers.

Tax authorities issue warnings to taxpayers to be careful of fraudulent schemes.

“To avoid risks, when individuals and businesses receive requests to install software, provide information, organize training, etc., they should directly contact or verify information with the local tax authority or tax branch via the phone numbers published on the industry's own website. Taxpayers absolutely must not download or install tax authority applications for computers/smartphones via links not provided by the General Department of Taxation; do not allow any individual to directly access their computers/phones to support the installation and use of tax authority software,” emphasized Mr. Nguyen Xuan Thuong - Head of the Taxpayer Support and Propaganda Department (Ha Tinh Provincial Tax Department).

Not only raising vigilance, Ha Tinh Provincial Tax Department also recommends that taxpayers coordinate information and promptly report fraudulent acts to the police or tax departments and tax branches at all levels to have measures to coordinate and handle subjects impersonating tax officials, civil servants, and tax agencies to illegally profit.

Phan Tram

Source: https://baohatinh.vn/kinh-te/gia-danh-can-bo-thue-ha-tinh-lua-dao-doanh-nghiep-ho-kinh-doanh-moi-thanh-lap/252431.htm