Does this email look legitimate?
Some people would look at this and say this email is coming from the Australian Government, it has their official logo on the top and it's talking about a grant. I was thinking “The other day I applied for a business grant to help out with expenses during the COVID-19 pandemic, they must just want to clarify some things.”
WRONG
This is a scam. This email is attempting to get you to provide enough information that scammers can use to portray themselves as you! These types of requests from our government do not come via email, if they did want you to provide information like this, they would get you to do it via a secure communication on a site like MyGov.
Let me point out the easily identifiable issues in relation to this email.
First and probably the quickest way to know that this is a scam is the subject line. This subject line is not formatted correctly, you will notice the large amount of space between “Ref:” and the reference code.
Next, I draw your attention to the reply address, not the reply address label which is “Australian Government | Services Australia”. The actual reply address is <e_gupta_r[at]ukw.de>, this email address is coming from a domain registered in Germany. Official Australian government emails aren’t going to come from Germany.
Finally, it asks you to reply to this email with enough information to hijack your identity, including your date of birth, tax file number, and information about tax returns or superannuation information. If you notice the very last two lines it asks you to send a copy of your driver’s license or passport along with a copy of your Medicare card.
Now if you haven’t worked this out yet, all of the information requested in this email provides enough data for the scammer to open a bank account in your name, which they will control.
This one email makes up one part of a much larger scam where they take over your finances and cause major disruption to your day to day living.
Unfortunately, statistics say that someone will have fallen for this scam and sent the scammer everything they asked for. DON’T be one of those statistics, carefully ready through any email requesting your personal information, and if you are unsure find a way to verify the legitimacy of that email.
Stay Safe
Damien
