The National Institute of Cyber Security（NICS） recently reported a wave of scam emails impersonating the Ministry of Finance under the pretense of conducting tax investigations. The perpetrators aim to carry out social engineering attacks by luring recipients into opening, downloading, and executing malicious attachments, with the intent of stealing users’ personal information. These attacks have led to the loss of individual and corporate data, as well as financial damages. The NICS would like to remind the public to stay vigilant and watch out for such fraudulent emails.

The National Taxation Bureau of Kaohsiung（hereinafter referred to as the Bureau）, Ministry of Finance, points out that these scam emails often use subject lines such as “Notification of Tax Authority Investigation” or “List of Enterprises Subject to Tax Inspection” to attract recipients’ attention and trick them into opening the emails. Once the attachment in these malicious emails is opened, the hackers may gain control of the user’s computer or steal sensitive and confidential data and documents.

The Bureau highlights that, for matters involving significant tax investigations, the National Taxation Bureau will issue an official letter rather than send an email with suspicious attachments. The Bureau reminds both citizens and businesses to carefully verify the source of emails, stay alert to unexpected tax investigation notices, and ensure that antivirus software is properly installed and regularly updated on the devices used to receive emails. The Bureau also advises the public not to click on links or open attachments in unsolicited emails, and not to enter their personal identification number. If you receive a suspicious message or hyperlink, you may call the anti-fraud hotline 165 or the toll-free service line at 0800-000-321 for assistance. You can also visit the Bureau’s official website （https://www.ntbk.gov.tw） for more information. 
    
Provided by: Collection and Information Management Division
Contact person： Mr. Chi             Telephone No：（07）7256600  Ext. 7880
Written by：Tsai Cheng-hung  　Telephone No：（07）7256600  Ext. 7888