Security News > 2024 > February > Australian Tax Office probed 150 staff over social media refund scam

The extent of the scam was revealed on Monday in an audit of the ATO's management and oversight of fraud control arrangements for the Goods and Services Tax - Australia's equivalent of a value-added or sales tax.

The scam promoted in online ads detailed a means of securing a loan from the ATO - an outright lie, as Australian tax authorities are not notably more generous than others around the world.

The audit document revealed that from mid-2021 the ATO received increased numbers of GST fraud tipoffs, and from December 2021 financial institutions sent an elevated volume of alerts regarding suspicious GST and income tax refunds.

As Operation Protego continued, 150 ATO officials were identified as worthy of investigation.

A dozen ATO staff were found to have committed fraud while working for the tax office.

While it's come as a shock that 150 ATO employees were suspected of tax fraud, the audit found that the tax org's efforts prevented an additional A$2.7 billion in suspect GST refunds, saw A$123 million recovered, and are racking up huge interest on false refunds that are yet to be repaid.

News URL

https://go.theregister.com/feed/www.theregister.com/2024/02/14/ato_operation_protego_tax_scam/