Phishing is the process of attempting to acquire sensitive information such as financial details, usernames, passwords, OTPs and bank account details by masquerading as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication. In general, Phishing is carried out by e-mail or instant messaging.
Phishing emails in the name of the income tax department is not new nowadays. In many cases, you may receive emails from fraudsters pretending to be the income tax department. They will create email IDs to mimic those of genuine income tax department email, copy the logo, content, color theme and other aspects of the original website.
Remember, the tax department will never ask you to disclose your personal, financial and confidential information such as bank account details, income details, OTPs, and login ID and passwords over email.
If you get any suspicious email pretending to be from the income tax department, then do not open the attachment. The file attached to your email might contain malicious codes that can infect your computer. Don’t even click on any links in that email.
If you receive an email or find a website you think is pretending to be of the Income Tax Department, forward the email or website URL to webmanager@incometax.gov.in. A copy may also be forwarded to incident@cert-in.org.in
