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There's a sneaky new email scam. Here's what you need to look out for.

In an age where cyber scams are becoming increasingly sophisticated it can be difficult to spot a fraudster’s email in your inbox.

That’s why security firm Forcepoint Security Labs wants to empower consumers and has shared four types of emails to be wary of with News.com.au.

Forcepoint principal security analyst Carl Leonard tells the news website the scams worked when cyber-criminals successfully tricked victims into clicking on an email, website or attachment.

So how are they luring us in? Well, the four email examples published in News.com.au appear to be from the Australian Taxation Office telling the recipient they can claim a tax refund. Spoiler alert: they’re not.

If you receive an email from any of these senders, just don’t open them:

  • GOV <info@info.com>
  • myGOV <info@ato.com>
  • Tax Return <info@ato.com>
  • A T O <ato@contacts.mail.com>

There’s a pattern here. Leonard tells consumers to look out for unusual domain names in the email senders address.

“For example, an email sender might have an email address of ‘something@something.in’, while supposedly being from the ATO.”

Forcepoint’s top tip? Trust your gut – if an email seems too good to be true or otherwise fishy, delete it.