Attention: Fraudulent financial emails threaten your savings in Austria!

Attention: Fraudulent financial emails threaten your savings in Austria!

In Austria, the number of fraudulent emails claiming to come from the tax office is increasing alarmingly. These phishing attempts aim to obtain personal banking details and other sensitive information from unsuspecting citizens. Emails containing threats of fines of 224.40 euros and requests to update personal data by May 3, 2025 are particularly common. As kosmo.at reports, the subject of these emails is often “Required action: Update your data to avoid a penalty”.

The Austrian authorities, specifically the Federal Ministry of Finance, have already issued an official warning and emphasize that communications from government agencies are only transmitted by post or in the FinanzOnline databox and never by email. It is important to pay attention to some characteristics that indicate fake messages: a sender address without the official domain bmf.gv.at, a lack of an individual salutation, spelling errors and links that lead to false websites.

Increase in cybercrime

The number of cybercrimes overall is showing a worrying increase. The 2023 Cybercrime Report showed that cybercrime reports increased to 65,864 offenses - an increase of 9.4% compared to the previous year (bmi.gv.at). Email fraud is the largest category, particularly in cybercrime, which has more than doubled since 2019. In 2023, 34,069 cases of internet fraud were reported, an increase of 23.3%.

The Federal Criminal Police Office points out that fraudulent methods are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Aside from phishing emails, SMS and other forms of communication are also affected. Another phishing warning was recently published, informing users that access to their Sparkasse account has been temporarily restricted due to failed login attempts. Immediate verification via a “secure portal” is required, while signs such as spelling errors in the salutation indicate attempted fraud (verbraucherzentrale.de).

Precautions and recommendations

The preventative measures required by the authorities are essential. It is advisable to delete suspicious messages immediately and not to reveal any personal or banking information. Spelling errors, impersonal salutations and the urgency of actions are indications of fraudulent intentions. It is advised to ignore requests and instead use official communication channels.

The criminal service reform also provides for increased armament in the area of ​​cybercrime in order to be able to better deal with the challenges arising from growing cybercrime. The police are relying on technical, organizational and personnel improvements to counteract the constant threat of cybercrime. If you suspect anything, citizens are asked to immediately inform their bank or credit card provider and report any damage.