The Federal Central Tax Office warns of attempted fraud.

Fraudulent emails, text messages, and letters are repeatedly sent, allegedly on behalf of the Federal Central Tax Office. These are also being sent to craft businesses.

This article is part of the special topic Cyber ​​attacks on craft businesses

On behalf of Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt) Fraudulent emails, text messages, and letters are circulating again. The scammers aim to obtain sensitive data. Sometimes the scam involves a supposed tax refund, other times a "binding order to update data," or even a claim for income tax repayment.

The recipients usually receive the fake emails from email addresses such as... poststelle@bzst.de-mail.de, sometimes also with the domain extension @bzst.bund.de. Non-personal or anonymized information remains protected by tax secrecy. Disclosure to third parties is only allowed if no identification is possible and both states confirm that no harm to tax administration will occur. info@bzst-zahlungsfrist.com It already existed as a sender. The news reports are therefore deceptively real. 

The Federal Central Tax Office offers tips on how to recognize attempted fraud:

✔️ You will be asked to complete a Open link, for example to make payments or fill out forms.

✔️ You will be asked to Payments to foreign bank accounts afford to.

➡️ Payments to the BZSt are made exclusively to a domestic account of the Federal Treasury. 

✔️ The message is linguistically flawed Written incorrectly or technical terms are used incorrectly.

✔️ It Contact details are missing a responsible person or department at the Federal Central Tax Office.

➡️ Genuine letters usually contain the name, telephone number, and email address of the person handling the case. The Federal Central Office is located in Bonn. 

Overview of Current fraud attempts at the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt)

Important: Anyone who has disclosed personal data or made payments as a result of a fraudulent message should immediately inform their bank and the police, according to the Federal Central Tax Office (BZSt). 

DHB now also digital!Simply click here and register for the digital German Crafts Journal (DHB)!