Tamil Nadu: Letter from I-T dept' may scare you, but it is just sham

Chennai: Don't panic if you receive a letter from the 'Income-Tax department' by post asking you to appear before an officer by May 15 for an enquiry in connection with your cash deposit during the demonetisation period. 

Chances are there you are being tricked by a conman who has faked the emblem and letterhead of the Income-Tax department with a view to extract some money from the gullible. The fraudulent act came to light recently through a chartered account whose client had received a letter with 'Sub: enquiry of tax evasion by you with RBI for fiscal year 2015/2016 - matter regarding' claiming to be dispatched from the I-T department. 

Made aware of such a letter circulating, Income-Tax officials are warning people not to fall prey to the evil designs of tricksters. “Of course it is obvious that the conmen were working overtime to draft and send such letter that is very similar to an official letter, if one looks at it through a common man's eyes. But a trained eye can detect the flaws in the letter. Don't call up the phone number given in the letter”, an official warned. 

“Basically the idea is to intimidate the recipient of the letter and force that person to call the number given in the letter. Once you call the given number then the person on the other side will convince you for a personnel meeting so that he could further intimidate you saying that you have committed fraud and not disclosed all your income besides evading tax. The idea is to force you to strike a deal with the 'I-T' officer and finally you end up paying him illegally to get rid of a non-existing income-tax trap,” an official noted. 

The letter says it is from the ITDD (investigation). The letter carries a revenue stamp. If it is IT notice, there is no need for a revenue stamp. A revenue stamp usually comes with a receipt issued by the government. The email id given is a fake one. All email of income tax department will end in @incometax.gov.in.   

The language of the letter may look like that of an official letter, but it is certainly not income- tax department language. The department never writes 'evade'. The action year is stated as 2015-16, but demonetisation happened in the year 2016-17.  The government has also instructed that verification of sources of demonetised currency should be only through e-mail and all forms of contact over phone or physical interaction are prohibited, official noted. 

Why is this letter fake?

• The action year in the top is stated to be 15-16 whereas demonetisation relates to 2016-17  
• A notice is not a receipt and need not carry revenue stamp
• The name and address of the DDIT(Inv) is not given 
• The mail address is fake. All email addresses of I-T department will have the  suffix @incometax.gov.in 
• The contents of the letter lack credence. It is not in the language of the I-T department. Never does the department write 'evade' 
• The mobile number does not belong to an I-T official 
• The contents of the notice are stupidly drafted and the 'Maharshi' officer has no jurisdiction over assesses in Tamil Nadu
• No such notice can be issued by any officer by post