Tuesday February 12, 2019
How to spot a fake Y
ou may or may not have experienced the terrifying new tactics by criminals trying to get your hands on your money using the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). The nefarious tactic is known as “spoofing” and the ATO says it is now a common scam technique used by scammers in an attempt to “legitimise their interaction with vulnerable community members”. “The community should be aware that legitimate email domains and SMS origins can also be ‘spoofed’ by scammers,” the spokesman said. “Spoofing occurs on global telecommunications platforms and is therefore not an indicator of a compromise of the IT security controls within an organisation.” While the ATO regularly contacts taxpayers by phone, email and SMS, there are some telltale signs that it isn’t the
ATO. The ATO will not: – Send you an email or SMS asking you to click on a link to provide login, personal or financial information, or to download a file or open an attachment (as in the example provided) – Use aggressive or rude behaviour, or threaten you with arrest, jail or deportation; – Request payment of a debt via iTunes or Google play cards, prepaid visa cards, cryptocurrency or direct credit to a personal bank account; or – Request a fee in order to release a refund owed to you. If you are in doubt about an interaction you have had with someone claiming to be from the ATO, or you think you have fallen victim to an ATO Impersonation scam, you can call the department to verify it on 1800 008 540 between 8 am–6 pm, Monday to Friday.
Lost its way on climate change T
ackling climate change and wealth inequality are the main reasons former Liberal Oliver Yates (pictured right) decided to challenge federal Treasurer Josh Frydenberg for his Victorian seat. The former Clean Energy Finance Corporation boss also wants businesses held to account for exploiting people and the environment for profit. Mr Yates lives in Kooyong - a Liberal seat since Federation in 1901 - and will join the ranks of liberalleaning independents challenging for coalition seats across the country. Mr Yates spent part of his youth in the regional electorate of Indi, which went to independent Cathy McGowan in 2013, and says voters want MPs who represent them. "People would say independents can't have a lot of influence because often they're in a minority in the lower house, but that's not been shown out," he said. Along with Ms McGowan, independent Kerryn Phelps won the Wentworth by-election following the retirement of Malcolm Turnbull. Wentworth had also been Liberal since 1901. Former world champion skier and barrister Zali Steggall has announced a run against Tony Abbott in Warringah. Both Dr Phelps and Ms Steggall cited climate change as a key factor in their decisions. “Zali and I have much in common - local, 'small-l' liberal and level-headed," Dr Phelps wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald. "It happened in Wentworth and it can happen in Warringah - Zali can win.” Dr Phelps got the benefit of Labor prefer-
ences in her run, and Mr Yates said he hoped Labor and the Greens would direct preferences his way.
The Voice of the Maltese 17
“Enough is enough on Manus”
T
he general secretary of the Catholic Bishop Conference of PNG and Soloman Islands, Fr Giorgio Licini (above), has just returned to Port Moresby from the island where he said three refugees attempted suicide during his two-day visit. A tearful Fr Licini said that these self-harm and suicide attempts, are a daily occurrence and that if nothing is done immediately, in the next few weeks “we are going to have people not only getting sick, not only getting crazy, completely, we are going to have people die.” Fr Licini was allowed to visit about 600 refugees detained in three facilities in the island's main town, Lorengau. Most have been detained on Manus for almost six years for trying to reach Australia by boat to seek asylum. Seven have died on Manus. “There is one, and only one, solution,” he said. “For the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea to tell the Prime Minister of Australia ... that enough is enough." Meanwhile, no more asylum-seeker children will be held on Nauru with the final four preparing to fly to the US with their families for resettlement They are the last of more than 200 children who had been held at the island’s processing centre when the Coalition won government in 2013. The Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, claimed it was vindication of the Coalition’s hardline border policy. When he took over as leader at the end of August, there were 109 children in immigration detention on Nauru.