The Ministry of Taxes and Duties Inspectorate for Lepel District informs

Currently, there have been instances of calls being made to individuals via the Viber messenger by individuals purporting to be tax authority employees. During these calls, individuals are informed of the necessity to appear at the tax inspectorate to resolve issues related to obtaining loans, money transfers, or opening accounts with banking institutions.

Such calls are made with the aim of undermining the authority of state power and creating a negative perception of government bodies, destabilising societal stability, and potentially obtaining a citizen's personal data through fraudulent means for subsequent use in accessing their funds. The content of such calls is uniform: it involves providing the recipient with extensive and largely "incoherent" information, often containing threats of imposing certain fines, debiting money from accounts, blocking bank accounts, and so forth.

An example of such a conversation is: "A large sum of money has been credited to your account. You have not timely notified the tax inspectorate of the source of these funds, and if you do not appear at the tax inspectorate today, your bank accounts will be blocked, an enforcement document will be issued to you, and you will be held administratively liable in the form of a fine."

In addition to such information, for greater conviction, the conversation may include the names of alleged tax authority employees and their office numbers, which, upon subsequent verification, are found to be fictitious. Real addresses of tax inspectorates are also mentioned, as are significant "penalty" amounts.

Tax authorities do not use messengers (Viber, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc.) when communicating with taxpayers. For official communication, tax authorities send notifications, notices, requests, etc., to taxpayers using postal services. In telephone conversations, tax authority employees do not resort to psychological pressure, intimidation, or demand the disclosure of confidential information.

If such calls are received by individuals, it is necessary to personally contact the tax inspectorate at their place of residence to clarify the information.