Messages luring people with fake promises of IT refunds; alert issued

The country's premier cyber security agency - CERT-In - has cautioned against a malicious 'SMShing' fraud where fake messages are being sent to people in the name of the Income Tax Department saying their refunds have been approved, with an aim to steal the recipient's vital personal details and put them on the dark net "for sale".

The warning, that also acts as an advisory, comes at a time when the income tax returns filing season is on and the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has sometime back extended the deadline to do till August 31.

Recently, some people wrote on social media platforms that they had received such messages.

The Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), the national nodal agency for responding to computer security incidents, said once a person clicks on the SMShing (made of SMS and phishing) link, he/she runs the risk of either his/her personal details being "put up for sale on the dark web" (clandestine web), or even their IT department records "altered" by misusing their e-filing credentials.