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I'm putting this one out there because they're using the DHS crest on the email, and they're asking for a LOT of identifying information. It's a scam. It's an identity theft scam. There is NO "subsidy benefit" being offered.
So email details:
From: Australian Government Department of Human Services <dswe2@humanservices.gov.au>
To: Me
Subject: [Bulk] Your 2016 Subsidy benefit - Code UD4G.
Reply To: exem@freenet.de
( Email text below the fold )
What are the scam flags flying in this one?
Well, to start with, the Australian Department of Human Services doesn't actually directly supply ANY benefits, subsidies, pensions or other such payments. The DHS is essentially a wrapper department around a collection of government agencies which supply services to clients - Centrelink, Medicare, the Child Support Agency, CRS, and so on. If you get money administered through these agencies, it comes out of the budget of the DHS, but you will never actually deal with the DHS directly - it's always through a subsidiary agency.
Secondly, if you're being sent a genuine email from the DHS, it's more likely to come through your My.Gov account than direct to your email box. This is because My.Gov is a DHS service supplying secure email and gateway services to their subsidiary agencies. They want people to use My.Gov, so they're going to push that. If this was genuine, what I would have received would have been a little note in my INBOX (not my "Junk" folder) telling me that I had a message in my My.Gov inbox.
Thirdly, no matter how tight the Australian government gets with the funds, no Australian government department is going to be wanting replies to be sent to a throw-away freemail account in Germany.
Fourthly: note the items being asked for in the email. You're being asked for identifying information - your name, your address, your tax file number, your tax details (and by asking for superannuation or dividend statements they're asking for details about your investments, too), and also your bank account details. This is an attempt at identity theft, straight up.
There is no 2016 Subsidy Benefit, there is only a scammer wanting to impersonate you. If you give them your details, the people you'll be notified by shortly will be your bank, your investments and the ATO (and they'll all be telling you you're suddenly a lot poorer than you used to be).
So email details:
From: Australian Government Department of Human Services <dswe2@humanservices.gov.au>
To: Me
Subject: [Bulk] Your 2016 Subsidy benefit - Code UD4G.
Reply To: exem@freenet.de
( Email text below the fold )
What are the scam flags flying in this one?
Well, to start with, the Australian Department of Human Services doesn't actually directly supply ANY benefits, subsidies, pensions or other such payments. The DHS is essentially a wrapper department around a collection of government agencies which supply services to clients - Centrelink, Medicare, the Child Support Agency, CRS, and so on. If you get money administered through these agencies, it comes out of the budget of the DHS, but you will never actually deal with the DHS directly - it's always through a subsidiary agency.
Secondly, if you're being sent a genuine email from the DHS, it's more likely to come through your My.Gov account than direct to your email box. This is because My.Gov is a DHS service supplying secure email and gateway services to their subsidiary agencies. They want people to use My.Gov, so they're going to push that. If this was genuine, what I would have received would have been a little note in my INBOX (not my "Junk" folder) telling me that I had a message in my My.Gov inbox.
Thirdly, no matter how tight the Australian government gets with the funds, no Australian government department is going to be wanting replies to be sent to a throw-away freemail account in Germany.
Fourthly: note the items being asked for in the email. You're being asked for identifying information - your name, your address, your tax file number, your tax details (and by asking for superannuation or dividend statements they're asking for details about your investments, too), and also your bank account details. This is an attempt at identity theft, straight up.
There is no 2016 Subsidy Benefit, there is only a scammer wanting to impersonate you. If you give them your details, the people you'll be notified by shortly will be your bank, your investments and the ATO (and they'll all be telling you you're suddenly a lot poorer than you used to be).
