According to a recent message on X, a social media platform: “Be careful about filing your tax return on your website. Sometimes your e-filing account gets compromised by a cyber-criminal.”
Sometimes even the most aware and well-informed person can fall for a fake income tax website and can even become a victim of an income tax fraud or scam, wherein a hacker gets into his income tax filing account. However, in case you have faced this, you should not panic and take immediate action.
File A Cybercrime Complaint
According to the income tax website, if you think your e-filing account may have been compromised or accessed in an unauthorized manner, then you may be a victim of cybercrime. Please report the incident to the concerned police or cyber-cell authorities as a first step. You may file an online criminal complaint/FIR by visiting https://cybercrime.gov.in/, an initiative of the Government of India to facilitate victims/complainants to report cybercrime complaints online.
Include The Details In The Complaint
When filing a cybercrime complaint, please ensure the following relevant information is captured and reflected in the FIR/criminal complaint in relation to the account misuse: complete details of the complainant, such as PAN, Aadhaar Number, etc., and a brief of the alleged incident; the date and approximate time of the suspected account misuse (if you are uncertain about the date and time of the suspected account misuse, then please mention the last date and approximate time you logged in and accessed your e-filing account, and as much as possible describe any activity you undertook during your last log-in. This will help in differentiating between unauthorized activities from legitimate activities); the date and approximate time when the account misuse came to your attention, and how it came to your attention; any information, facts, or details relevant to the suspected account misuse.
Please note that any complaint of account misuse made before the income tax department must be accompanied by a copy of the FIR/criminal complaint and mention any relevant details in relation to the incident. It is recommended that you submit the account misuse complaint (along with FIR/criminal complaint copies) via email, through the primary email ID registered for your e-filing account.
Any information about the alleged cybercrime will be shared by the income tax department with the relevant law enforcement authorities when so summoned under their statutory powers of investigation. As a general precaution, please do not share your login credentials or other sensitive information.
How To Stay Safe
Try to avoid public WiFi for banking. Try to set strong passwords and multi-factor authentication. Try to keep your phone or computer’s software updated. Hackers can easily exploit outdated systems. Use a strong antivirus to scan your device for malware or any suspicious applications that might have been installed. If necessary, you must take a backup of important data and perform a factory reset to wipe all data and malicious software from your device. You must always access your bank accounts and do IT filing, etc., from a trusted device. You must enhance security settings for other critical accounts linked to your mobile number.
