Don’t Fall for These Scams: Tax Filing Season Alert!

With tax filing season in India right around the corner, millions of taxpayers have to prepare for the income tax returns submission process. Unfortunately, this is also the time when criminals try to target fraudulent scams to deceive people who do not know how to avoid tax scams. This document explains the trends of income tax scams in India, the tax filing season scams, tax fraud scams, and tax fraud alerts. If you are a freelancer, salaried employee, or a business owner, these tips will assist you for the season as tax fraud scams show up online.

The scams target taxpayers' money and their identity, and possibly lead to legal issues. Reports explain that these criminals pose as real officials of the Income Tax Department and use fake websites and email accounts to call and deceive people. Scam awareness is a good way to document the steps you will take to protect yourself against tax fraud scams.

In this blog, we will describe each of the most common scams, provide expert advice on how to prevent scams, and give step-by-step instructions for Indian taxpayers. You will have a complete strategy to avoid scams while filing your tax returns.

Indian Tax Filing Season Scams

The first step to avoiding tax scamsis to understand what a scam looks like. Fraud tax income India scams are more convincing and are using an advanced level of technology for newer and more widespread scams. Here are the most common scams used in the tax filing seasonto scam taxpayers.

 1. Impersonation and Threatening Scams  

The most common out of the many scams is pretending to be an official from the Income Tax Department. They will call you and say there is a problem with your tax return and say you haven't paid your taxes or you have made a mistake with a tax refund, and say you will be arrested or face legal consequences for not paying your taxes. These callers give you a sense of urgency to ask for your PAN, Aadhaar, or even your banking details.

While officials may make calls at any time of the year, tax season is when people become more stressed, making them especially vulnerable to tax scams. Scammers may even go as far as spoofing an official tax department number on a scam call. The Income Tax Department is a real government agency; however, as a matter of policy, they will never ask people to make payments on the phone and will not ask to receive sensitive data during a phone call. 

2. Promises of Tax Refunds  

Scammers use fake emails or text messages to promise tax refunds as yet another scam in income tax fraud India. These messages are designed to convince people to visit a fake Income Tax website that imitates the actual one in order to capture sensitive personal information. Scammers use the information to commit identity theft or other illegal transactions. For example, you might receive an SMS saying, "Your tax refund of Rs. 50,000 is pending. Click here to claim." Scammers design these messages to take advantage of people's desire for a tax refund. The government does not communicate with people about tax refunds. So, if someone emails or texts you to solicit information, it is not a government official. Additionally, tax refunds can only be obtained through the official tax filing website.

3. Phishing Websites and Fake Apps for Filing Taxes

Given that tax filing online tends to be very popular, fake apps and websites lure tax filers with promises of simple filing and quick tax return processing. Fraud apps and websites steal your financial info and disappear. Protecting your financial info is a simple, but very important, online tax fraud warning. Always check the website URL before typing anything.

Recently, scammers have registered websites like "incometaxindiafake.com" and used it for fake tax filing. Additionally, scam emails are sent with a file that is malware that steals the login info of the user.

4. The Scam of Linked Aadhaar and PAN

Scammers send messages stating that your Aadhaar is not linked to your PAN or bank account. If you follow the link, your data will be stolen. The government has made it mandatory to link, but to do that, there will be no messages sent. All official communications are done through safe portals.

5. Identity Theft for Tax Refund Fraud

Scammers steal your tax refund by filing tax returns in your name. This is a complicated scam, as it requires the thief to have your personal info in order to steal your money from your tax account. The simplest way to avoid this is to file your tax returns early to prevent the scam.

As tax season approaches, it's important to understand growing cybercrime trends. Recent emails and messages from the cyber cell and anti-fraud departments show a nationwide increase in tax-related fraud for geographical tax fraud trends. Most tax fraud victims are in the UP region, especially in major cities like Lucknow. Pattern recognition can help detect fraud and understand more tax scam prevention tips.

Tax Scam Prevention Tips: Take action to stay fraud-free

So far, we’ve discussed the dangers. Now we can discuss proactive, effective, and tax scam prevention tips. These tips will provide the most straightforward methods to avoid tax scamsduring the filing season.

1. Check All Communication Broad Systems

Always verify the source of a message, text, or phone call. Official Income Tax emails will end in @gov.in or @incometax.gov.in. If you receive a call from a clerk, hang up and call the department directly.

Do not reply to messages that request personal information or that have links. The department will not ever send you these types of messages. Check using the official app or the official website for tax fraud.

2. Early Tax Filing

As far as tax scams go, the sooner you file your ITR, the lower the chances you’ll have an incident where someone wants to defraud you by filing tax returns in your name. Make your tax documents available early, including your Form 16, any paperwork showing your investments, and your bank documents.

In India, for the assessment year 2026-27, you can file your taxes from the start of April 2026. However, if you prepare your taxes early, you can avoid being rushed and making mistakes.

3. Use the Right Websites

Make sure you use the official Income Tax e-filing website, which can be found at www.incometax.gov.in. Third-party websites can be used, but only if they are confirmed as reliable by tax filing software websites.

Make sure you are using the website on a secure network, which can be confirmed by an 'HTTPS' tag in the website’s address. Use antivirus software to avoid phishing.

4. Sensitive Information Should Not Be Shared 

As far as tax scams go, you should never share your banking information, including passwords, account numbers, and PINs, and one-time passwords, whether over the phone, via email, or via SMS. These messages are often retrieved at the demand of a scammer who claims to be "verifying" your account.

If you have doubts, go to a tax office or talk to a licensed CA. Your tax filing should also be protected with two-step verification.

5. Scams Fake Payment Threats

Scams create urgency and fake payment threats. This is usually a scam if a message or phone call requires you to pay an alleged fine in order to avoid arrest. Always verify on your own.

Suspicion of a scam can be reported to your local police or at the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal (cybercrime.gov.in).

6. Know the Scams

Poor English, unsolicited attachments, and requests to pay by gift card or to click a UPI link do not constitute government emails.

Can be found on Twitter or in the newsletters of the Income Tax Department.

7. Keep Your Devices and Networks Safe  

Use strong, unique passwords on your tax accounts. Don’t file taxes on public WiFi but rather on a home network. Check your bank statements often for unauthorised transactions.

In areas such as Uttar Pradesh, where the level of digital literacy is low, organised community awareness campaigns can be effective in spreading these tips on how to avoid tax scams. 

Digital Threats: Online Tax Fraud Alert

Filing taxes digitally is a part of life nowadays, and that’s why an online tax fraud alert is essential. Cybercriminals use phishing, malware, and fake applications to exploit the weaknesses of taxpayers.

Main Online Threats

• Phishing Schemes: phishing schemes look like official information, but they divert people to sites to steal their information.
• Spyware Attachments: When you open an attachment, spyware can be installed to monitor your keystrokes, as well as your typing habits, etc.

Always verifythe source of a message, text, or phone call. Official Income Tax emails will end in @gov.in or @incometax.gov.in. If you receive a call from a clerk, hang up and call the department directly.

Do not reply to messages that request personal information or that have links. The department will never send you these types of messages. Check using the official app or the official website for tax fraud.

Conclusion: Protect Yourself from Tax Fraud

As we conclude, keep in mind that the best defense against tax scams this filing season is information. You can file with confidence if you are aware of tax filing season scams, comprehend income tax fraud trends in India, and use these tax scam protection strategies. Always put security before convenience and keep an eye out for online tax fraud.

The process of filing taxes ought to be simple rather than unpleasant and fraught with dangers. To make the community safer, distribute this guide to your loved ones.

DISCLAIMER: This blog is NOT any buy or sell recommendation. No investment or trading advice is given. The content is purely for educational and information purposes only. Always consult your eligible financial advisor for investment-related decisions.