Cyber gangsters are trying to use a new scam to trick unsuspecting victims into revealing their data. The new fraud attempts use the well-known “Magpie” (ELelectronic STyourHEclarification), the tax office's tax software, to camouflage. The Schleswig-Holstein consumer advice center warns about this.
This is how the Elster scam works
The gangsters send phishing emails pretending to come from Elster. The emails have the subject “Last request – remaining tax amount from 2022” and the well-known Elster logo. In the email, the tax office promises that the recipient would still receive a payment. The amount of this amount still needs to be calculated. The recipient of the email still has to fill out a form. This form can be accessed via a link in the email. The link has the familiar name elster.de.
To increase the pressure on the recipient, the email asks them to fill out the form quickly. Otherwise there is no guarantee that the “amount will be processed in a timely manner,” as it is said in clumsily worded German. In order to appear serious, the email states that you are open to questions and can contact the help center.
How to recognize the fraud
But if you move the mouse cursor over the link without clicking on it, you will see that the link does not lead to elster.de. But to a fraudulent website that aims to steal your data.
This is how you react correctly
Do not click on the link or respond to this phishing email. Instead, send this immediately to your spam folder or delete the email.
Financial authorities warn of fraud in the name of Elster
The tax offices have put together warnings about Elster on this website. The fraudsters use various tricks to try to obtain taxpayers' registration details and account and/or credit card information.
The tax offices emphasize: “The tax administration generally only sends you notifications, but never the actual tax data or invoices in the form of an email attachment.”
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