A person telephones and claims that they are a prosecutor representing the Australian Tax Office (ATO). 

That person claims that the person answering has an outstanding debt with the ATO and that they will be taking the person to court to recoup this debt. 

Arrest by police is threatened also. 

The caller’s demeanour is forceful and intimidating and his/her intent may be to extract personal information, eg – a tax file number (TFN), an address, etc. 

The caller may want a payment made immediately, eg – that day, and they may threaten to freeze assets and all bank accounts, etc if the payment is not made or not made immediately. 

A second person may then phone and offer to help with that situation for a fee. 

While the ATO may telephone you, all citizens need to be aware and be wary of unsolicited telephone calls claiming to be from the ATO (or a government department on behalf of the ATO).

Do not provide any personal information (including your   TFN) to anyone without determining the legal basis the organisation has for asking for it, even then do not disclose the number or tax details. 

If in any doubt, please telephone the ATO on 13 28 65 (for individual tax matters) or 13 72 26 (for business tax matters).