Overseas criminals are scaring people into believing they face a $125,000 fine or five years in jail in a cruel scam that has cost Australians $63.6 million so far this year.
The wicked hoax works through phone calls or text messages and relies on frightening people into making a 'settlement' of thousands of dollars to avoid a huge fine or jail.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said that of the 213,000 reports logged by its Scamwatch site this year, more than half have been phone-related.
The scams, known as phishing schemes, trick people into giving out personal information.
'It's very concerning to see these scams evolving and becoming more sophisticated to steal even more money from unsuspecting people,' ACCC Deputy Chair Delia Rickard said.
Daily Mail Australia got an inside look at how one of those scams work when called by a scammer - he wasn't a whistleblower revealing the crime, he was trying to scam me.
Phone scams often use an Australian number which diverts to a call centre in another country. The call centre pictured is a stock image, not the call centre referred to in this story
The call came from a number in the NSW city of Newcastle, and was a recorded message telling me I was under criminal investigation by the Australian Taxation Office for tax evasion.
After the recording, it said to press 9 to talk to an operator.
I hung up, got my digital recorder and called the Newcastle number back. Given what followed, I am almost certain it transferred from NSW to a busy call centre somewhere in India.
'You have reached the tax crime investigation department of Australia. You're speaking with officer Michael,' the man who answered said.
He later told me his surname was Jones. But given his strong Indian accent, I had my doubts that Michael Jones was his real name.
He gave me a supposed case number, then asked my name. Given he had given me a fake name, I figured it was fair to give him a fake name in return.
I gave a fairly generic identity as I didn't want to give him any idea I was on to his criminal scheme.
Australians have lost $63.6 million to phone scams already this year
His acceptance of my made up name showed he did not know who they'd called, I was just the next Australian number on their list.
Next up, he asked me to 'confirm' my tax file number, as if he had it in front of me and was just following protocol.
I can't even remember my actual tax file number, never mind make up a fake one on the spot, given I can't remember how many digits it has.
I apologised to him and said I didn't have it on me. He accepted this and asked me to 'confirm' my residential address?'
I made up a street name and added a real suburb, but I feared the jig might have been up.
Maybe he had a something on his computer that would flash a warning at the fake address.
He did not, but asked me for my postcode. I gave one I know does not match the suburb.
'I got your file in front of me,' Michael said and moved to tough guy criminal investigator mode, saying I was 'the primary suspect in a case being filed by ATO'.
'I have received a legal affidavit against your name. It says there is an outstanding lodge against your name and you also tried to commit a fraud with the taxation office. So I just need to have a lawyer name and number who will be able to represent you inside the commonwealth courthouse.'
If I didn't know this was a scam, I would have been very scared by now. It was hard to resist telling him where he could shove his affidavit.
Online and phone scams are on the increase in Australia and around the world
He told me to get a pen and paper so he could give me all the details of my case. I made a few noises which I
