Beware tax refund email scam: Officials

An email scam claiming to be from tax authorities is doing the rounds, officials have warned.

The Direction générale des Finances publiques warned an email inviting users to to download and install a 'new version' of taxes.gouv.fr for Windows to receive a tax refund is a phishing scam, which aims to convince people to give up important personal information by fooling them into believing they are responding to an official request.

It said that tax authorities never ask for sensitive information about a person's tax affairs by telephone or email.

If you receive such an email, the advice is to delete it immediately. If you have already downloaded any files and given up personal information, inform your bank immediately to stop any fraudulent payments from going out.
Victims can also file a complaint with the police. They can also alert authorities to suspected scams at the website www.internet-signalement.gouv.fr