Don’t share PINs and passwords, IT Dept cautions taxpayers

Under law and order

The Income Tax Department of India has cautioned taxpayers against sharing their PIN or password of mails, saying that the authority never asks for any such details.

In a statement released, the department said that taxpayers should be aware that the department never asks for confidential or financial information of the taxpayer over emails.

"The Income Tax Department never asks for your PIN numbers, passwords or similar access information for credit cards, banks or other financial accounts through e-mail," it said.

"The Income Tax Department appeals to taxpayers not to respond to such emails and NOT to share information relating to their credit card, bank and other financial accounts," it added.

The Income Tax Department, in the recent past, has made good use of technology in implementing its e-governance initiatives, with most of its routine communication to taxpayers being done through email and SMS.

"Therefore, the department is very sensitive and alert to attempts made by fraudsters to spoof the Department's identity to send phishing emails," it said.

The statement further added that all taxpayer reports of phishing emails are forwarded to incident@cert-in.org.in, which is an agency of the government of India and is mandated to fight against such threats.