RIA warns of fraudulent emails connected to income tax rebates
The state’s Information Systems Authority (RIA) has issued a warning about emails trying to get people to give up personal information. The messages are set up in such a way that they seem to be sent off by the Tax and Customs Board.
In detail, the messages are asking recipients to submit personal data to receive a tax rebate. The link in the messages then takes recipients to a phishing site, where they are asked to submit personal details.
The messages are written in bad Estonian, and people are asked to give up their name, personal identification code, address, phone number, and credit card details. They are sent off from an address not connected to the Tax and Customs Board (MTA).
How to recognize these phishing attempts
According to RIA, these phishing attempts can be recognized by the following characteristics:
The sender isn’t connected to the authority that supposedly issued the email
The information recipients are asked to submit concerns details already known to MTA
Credit card information is required, which has never been the case with MTA
In addition, it was important to know that MTA wouldn’t issue such requests in the first place, RIA stated.
Recipients of the emails are asked to forward them to [email protected] and then delete them. They shouldn’t be answered, and the links in the messages shouldn’t be used. In case this has happened already, RIA recommends writing to [email protected] with a request for further information what to do next.
Editor: Dario Cavegn