LAHORE
The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has reportedly come under a cyber-attack and has alerted the taxpayers with regards to fake, harmful emails-cum-notices being sent to them regarding anomalies in their tax returns.
The sources claimed that the FBR is under a cyber-attack and that’s why it issued an advisory to taxpayers.
They said the matter has been taken by the high-ups in FBR and they are trying to resolve it at the earliest.
“Cyber criminals are trying to defraud the taxpayers by sending notices from FBR’s email domain,” the sources claimed.
Speaking to Pakistan Today telephonically on Wednesday, Hamid Raza Khan, a spokesperson of the FBR, denied any kind of cyber-attack on the FBR. He said, “I have no knowledge about any cyber-attack. I have just issued the press release given to me by the administration department.”
The FBR on its website has also urged taxpayers not to respond any fake and harmful emails-cum-notices.
A statement by FBR has also denied any association with these emails being sent from a fake email address [email protected] which has no connection with FBR’s email domain. These fake emails inform the targeted taxpayers the tax returns filed by them do not match their sources of income and further advise them to contact the commissioner Inland Revenue at the earliest.
These emails also reportedly carry attachments infected by harmful viruses and malware, the statement said.
This nefarious activity apparently by some hackers is a type of spamming used to send viruses and malwares to the general public and taxpayers, the statement further added.
The taxpayers and the general public are advised to ignore such fake emails and refrain from clicking any link provided in them. The receipt of such fake emails should be immediately reported to the authorities concerned, the statement held.
