ATO to remove links from SMS communications to help with ATO-related scam prevention

The number of scams from Australian Tax Office (ATO) impersonators was higher than ever in 2023 with 25,609 reported in the last financial year, up 25% on the previous year.​

With significant growth in the use of email and SMS by cybercriminals, the ATO are taking action. Scammers often use hyperlinks to take people to fraudulent websites (such as a fake myGov page) where they then steal personal information or install malware.​

To help make it easier for the community to identify legitimate SMS messages, the ATO are in the process of removing hyperlinks from all outbound SMS by tax time 2024. While the Australian Tax Office may use SMS to contact you, they will never include links or ask you to log in directly from a text message. If you need to access the ATO services, always type the url directly into your web browser (ato.gov.au or my.gov.au) to ensure you’re visiting the legitimate website.​

For further information, read the full update from the ATO here.​