More than 40,000 taxpayers have been put on notice after the Australian Tax Office (ATO) got wind of an $850 million “significant fraud” circulating on social media where offenders were claiming GST refunds for non-existent businesses.
“Sophisticated risk models deployed by the ATO coupled with intelligence received from banks, including through the AUSTRAC-led Fintel Alliance and the Reserve Bank of Australia, identified a recent spike in suspicious refunds.
With each fraud averaging $20,000, the ATO has identified a recent spike in fraudulent claims, using risk models buoyed by intelligence from Australian Transaction Reports and Analysis Centre-led (AUSTRAC) Fintel Alliance and the Reserve Bank of Australia.
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