Scammers Are Sending Fake LHDN Emails, Here’s How To Spot The Scam
At first glance, the emails look real until you take a closer look and think.
- Scammers are sending fake LHDN emails with urgent 72-hour deadlines, threatening heavy penalties and jail time to frighten recipients.
- Spot the scam by checking the sender's email address. Legitimate LHDN emails only come from addresses ending in @hasil.gov.my.
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Scammers are getting sophisticated and they aren’t afraid to pose as legitimate businesses and organisations to swindle victims.
Lately, scammers are pretending to be from the Inland Revenue Board of Malaysia (LHDN) and sending out emails to scare victims into coughing up money.
Malay Mail sighted two such tax scam emails sent in by a reader. These emails resemble an official notice but a closer look reveals the scam it is.
What’s detailed in the scam email?
The first email received by a reader had an official-sounding title “Notis Tuntutan Cukai & Penalti (Akta 53).” It claimed the LHDN audit had found the recipient’s company had breached income tax laws by giving inaccurate information or by wilful tax evasion.
The email recipient is required to submit the required documents, including bank statements and financial statements, within 72 hours from the notice’s date.
Failure to comply in 72 hours could result in penalties of up to 300% of the underpaid tax and up to five year’s in jail. The authorities could also freeze the company’s tax credits.
To make it look extra legitimate, the email is peppered with references to different legal provisions. The scammer also included an email address and a landline number for the fake LHDN officer.
In the second email, it carried a similar title “Notis Tuntutan Cukai & Penalti” and claimed the recipient had underdeclared their income. The same 72-hour deadline was given to the recipient to produce documents to LHDN.
This time though, the penalty is up to 200% of the underpaid tax and three years in prison. There’s also a green button where recipients can click to download the necessary forms. However, it leads to a fake website that closely mimics the official LHDN website.
The second email is signed off by a fake LHDN officer, complete with his email address and landline phone number.
Once again, please don’t reply to the email, call the number, or click on the link.
How to tell it’s a scam email?
Both emails were sent from dubious email address: enforcementhasil.gov.my@mg-hgf.com and lhdn_compliancehasil.gov.my@drhhfg.com.
Official emails from LHDN are sent out through email addresses that end with: @hasil.gov.my.
The official LHDN website is https://www.hasil.gov.my/
Due to various scams, LHDN has an entire section dedicated to help Malaysians tell scams apart and where to get help here.
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