Stop, scammers time: SMEs warned as 90s tax time scams make a comeback

Cargo pants and bucket hats are not the only icons of the 90s that are making a comeback; even tax-time scammers are recycling techniques from days gone by.

That’s according to Bendigo Bank, which alerted taxpayers to the resurgence of ‘retro’ scam methods on Tuesday, as the end of financial year (EOFY) quickly approaches.

Cyber fraudsters are taking a “step back in time”, said the bank, with a new (old) scam that involves customers being asked to open HTML files attached to emails to supposedly view important account changes or sign a document electronically.

These scammers are taking advantage of higher email traffic and pre-tax time purchases to try their hand at a bit of phishing, said Bendigo Bank’s head of customer protection Jason Gordon.