The Fiji Revenue and Customs Service is warning the public to beware of fake correspondences sent to them on FRCS Public Notice templates requesting to pay tax on lottery winnings.

The warning follows a report made to FRCS by a person stating that she received WhatsApp messages from unknown numbers claiming that her mobile number has won a lottery.

The person says she is being told that to claim the money, she needs to pay a tax.

[ Source : Fiji Revenue and Customs Service]

Chief Executive, Mark Dixon says to induce the person to pay the tax, the callers sent her a modified copy of an old FRCS Public Notice which had glaring signs of not being genuine such as a non-FRCS stamp.

Dixon says FRCS does not use Public Notice templates to correspond with individuals.

The victim was asked to make the tax payment through money transfer companies.

He says the FRCS does not request payments through money transfer companies or through Facebook and messaging apps.

All payments to the Service are made at the cashier counters or through our official bank accounts.

He is advising the public to be vigilant and on alert for potential scams as such and not fall for them.

Dixon says as with most scams, the fraudsters in this scam also used psychology-based principles to increase the effectiveness of their attacks and convince the victims to pay with the FRCS Public Notice template.

He stresses the scammers used this technique to add credibility to their scheme.