New Delhi: The Income Tax Department has issued a fact-check to alert citizens against fake e-mails asking people to download e-PAN card, an official said on Sunday. The fact-check, issued with the help of the Press Information Bureau (PIB), said, "Beware of Fake Emails asking to download e-PAN cards." The PIB also circulated a screenshot of showing the phishing e-mail which offered "A step-by-step guide" to download e-PAN card online.
The Income Tax Department clarified that it does not request detailed personal information through e-mail. "Do no respond to any emails, links, calls and SMS asking you to share financial and sensitive information," the department said. The Income Tax Department added it does not send e-mail requesting your PIN numbers, passwords or similar access information for credit cards, banks or other financial accounts, a statement said.
The Department, in an advisory, said that if people receive an e-mail from someone claiming to be the authorised by Income Tax Department or directing you to an Income Tax website then do not reply and do not open any attachments. "Attachments may contain malicious code that will infect your computer," it added. The advisory said, "Do not click on any links. If you click on links in a suspicious e-mail or phishing website then do not enter confidential information like bank account, credit card details."
It also cautioned citizens against cutting and pasting the link from the message into their browsers as the phishers can make the link look like real, but it may actually send you to different websites. The Department also said, "Use anti-virus software, anti-spyware, and a firewall and keep them updated. Some phishing e-mails contain software that can harm your computer or track your activities on the internet without your knowledge. Anti-virus and Anti-spyware software and firewall can protect you from inadvertently accepting such unwanted files."
Encouraging tax-payers to report phishing mails, the I-T Department said, "If you receive a phishing mail not pertaining to the Income Tax Department, forward the same to incident@cert-in.org.in." "If you receive an e-mail or find a website you think is pretending to be of Income Tax Department, forward the e-mail or website URL to webmanager@incometax.gov.in.
A copy may also be forwarded to incident@cert-in.org.in," it added. You may forward the message as received or provide the Internet header of the e-mail, the advisory said. The Internet header has additional information to help us locate the sender. After you forward the e-mail or header information to us, delete the message, the advisory added.
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